Letter of the Day | Call for ministerial accuracy and accountability

THE EDITOR, Madam:

For the second time in my life, I find myself compelled to address what appears to be a blatant falsehood uttered by a minister of Government — either to miscarry justice or to mislead Parliament. Whether born of ignorance or deliberate obfuscation, the impact on public trust remains the same.

The first occasion involved the lead-up to the Green Bay trial. At that time, then-Security Minister Dudley Thompson (PNP) famously opined that "no angels died at Green Bay." He further claimed that the absence of recovered firearms from the deceased was due to the "superior firepower" of the military’s "electric guns," which supposedly shot the gangsters' weapons from their grasp, propelling them into deep waters over 50 metres away.

I found this narrative mathematically and mechanically absurd. My consultations with ballistics experts and colleagues at the University of the West Indies and in the UK confirmed what the laws of physics already dictated: the minister’s "fact-sputum" was a fantasy. 

Today, we face a similar departure from reality. While I applaud the recent downward trend in murders across Jamaica and Trinidad, I must challenge National Security Minister Horace Chang’s recent parliamentary statement regarding the M16 rifle. Dr Chang suggested a rate of fire that is physically impossible for a standard infantry weapon.

To be clear: there is no M16 variant capable of firing 60 rounds per second. Such a rate would equal 3,600 rounds per minute — nearly four times the mechanical limit of the weapon. The actual metrics for the M16 family are as follows:

• Cyclic rate of fire: The maximum mechanical speed is typically 700 to 950 rounds per minute, or roughly 12 to 15 rounds per second.
• Effective rate of fire: In practical use, this drops to approximately 45 to 60 rounds per minute to allow for aiming and reloading.
• Sustained rate of fire: To prevent catastrophic barrel failure, the military recommends a mere 12 to 15 rounds per minute.

For comparison, a rate of 60 rounds per second is the domain of the M134 Minigun - a multibarrel, vehicle-mounted system - not an individual infantry rifle used in naval operations.

When ministers provide inaccurate technical justifications to the House, it undermines the integrity of our legislative process. If such "alternative facts" are being used to delay the routine implementation of body-worn cameras or to justify security protocols, then we are treading on dangerous ground.

As Peter Espeut and Kristen Gyles recently highlighted in their columns, civic engagement requires transparency and a rejection of the "donmanship" of misinformation. We deserve a leadership that respects the intelligence of the citizenry and the cold, hard facts of science.

DENNIS MINOTT