sent to prison for four months.

Senior Magistrate the Wor. Will Francis told Kingsley Burch: "I'm becoming very concerned about the use of weapons around here.

"As soon as somebody gets angry, they grab a stick, or a machete, or a baseball bat. There's just too much of it in this Island.

"But as long as I'm sitting here I will do anything to discourage any use of firearms.'' Burch, of Cable Hill, Devonshire admitted possessing the .177-calibre BB gun without a licence in May, discharging a shot from the gun, and unlawfully assaulting 45-year-old bouncer Malik Ashar Karim and doing him unlawful bodily harm.

Represented by Mr. Michael Scott, he was also charged with 22-year-old Eura Ible and 20-year-old Shira Y. Lowry of unlawfully assembling outside Oasis night club between May 14 and 15. Burch pleaded guilty to all charges.

Burch, Ible, Lowry, and another man who was not charged, were refused entry into the nightclub because of the way they were dressed.

The trio tried to sneak into the club through another entrance and "were literally forced back into the elevator'' by Karim, Mr. Scott said.

When it reached the ground floor they were met by three other employees and a fight broke out.

Prosecuting, Insp. Peter Duffy said Burch and the others, who had been drinking, left the club and travelled to their respective homes where they collected weapons.

The men, he said, consumed more alcohol before returning to Front Street where they waited for Karim to finish work.

As Karim and another employee were locking up, Insp. Duffy said Burch swung at Karim with a machete, "barely missing his shoulder''.

"He then took the gun and fired from four feet away,'' Insp. Duffy added.

The pellet struck Karim below the eye, causing bruising and swelling.

Karim was taken to hospital while Burch, Ible and Lowry were taken into custody.

Ible, who pleaded guilty to the assembly charge and possessing a machete, was later ordered to do 80 hours of community service, while Lowry was fined $300 for unlawful assembly and possessing a pool stick.

And yesterday Mr. Scott argued fiercely to keep his client out of jail.

He said Burch, who was young and the provider for his family, previously had an unblemished record.

He also denied alcohol contributed to Burch and his friends' behaviour.

Mr. Scott said while he did not condone the young men using weapons, especially a gun, the young men were provoked by club employees including Karim "who was much bigger than the three of them''.

During the fight in the Emporium Building, Burch suffered an injured wrist and cut chin; both Ible and Lowry were injured; and Ible's watch and some of his jewellery was broken, he said.

"My client's wrist was so swollen that the Police could not put the handcuffs on,'' Mr. Scott added.

It was during their taxi trip home that the young men after thinking about the incident decided to return back to the club, Mr. Scott said.

"The decision they took is wrong. But it might be regarded as normal for young men not to lay down and play dead.'' Mr. Scott said Burch took the BB gun to"protect himself and frighten anyone who approached them''.

He said the men returned to the club to talk to the manager about compensation for the watch.

He also stressed that the young men, who sat on a wall across the street from the club, were approached by Karim and two other bouncers who threatened them.

Burch pulled the BB gun out of his pants only to scare Karim, he added.

Insp. Duffy said while he accepted Mr. Scott's arguments that the three men were injured and they were angry, the men had some three hours to cool off.

And he said there was nothing in their evidence to suggest they returned to see the manager.

"The community, evident in letters to the editor and on morning talk shows, are concerned about the level of violence whether it be so-called "domestic'' or violence in the street,'' Insp. Duffy told Mr. Francis.

"A clear message has to be sent when young men go home, arm themselves and some three hours afterward go back to confront people.'' But Mr. Scott said the case did not involve the "gratuitous'' violence which concerns the community.

Mr. Francis told Burch: "I accept there was a degree of provocation here.

However, I have to bear in mind that what took place, took place some two to three hours after. That's what concerns me.'' He sentenced Burch to four months in prison on each count, to run concurrently.