More about 'coup' than hunting

The government of Trinidad and Tobago recently banned the importation and use of crossbows in that Caribbean nation.

It’s a pre-emptive measure.

Although there haven’t been any murders or assaults involving crossbows in T&T, officials there aren’t taking any chances.

“If criminals knew the effectiveness (of crossbows) – and thank God they didn’t – then things may have been worse,” said police Sgt. David Swanson.

Stupid criminals. They must not hunt.

Until the ban, crossbows were a popular weapon in the islands for hunting iguana, armadillo, and various rodents, all of which ended up on the table.

Air rifles had also been growing in popularity among the small-game hunters on Trinidad and Tobago too, but now their importation is restricted. People without the proper paperwork will have their air rifles confiscated.

You wouldn’t want anyone to take a pellet, especially in a nation where nearly everyone carries a machete, and heated arguments often result in chopped off parts.

Hunters, obviously, are upset.

But in Trinidad and Tobago, where firearms have long been banned, hunters are also resourceful. A photo on the Trinidad and Tobago’s Hunting and Fishing Society facebook page shows a hunter holding two large iguanas he shot with the slingshot he was carrying around his neck.

It’s probably only a matter of time before slingshots, too, are banned.

A nationwide ban on hunting was enacted in 2014, but was lifted the next year. Government officials claimed 140,000 animals were killed over a three-year period prior to the ban.

There’s no such thing as a 2nd amendment guaranteeing the citizens of T&T the right to keep and bear arms. They have no interest in an armed militia. As longtime hunters and gatherers, they simply want to hunt small game with something other than sticks and stones.

The government, however, suspects something a bit more nefarious than a desire to hunt lizards and big rats. This a country that well understands the word “coup.”

Swanson warned that a crossbow can be shot from a “vast distance,” and is a silent killer. “You wouldn’t even know where it came from.”

Firearms smuggled into the country from nearby Venezuela pose a far greater threat to the safety of Trinidad and Tobago than crossbows and air rifles, but are much more difficult to control.

Hunting is primitive sport in T&T. The government apparently wants to keep it that way.

“This is a pre-emptive measure,” said Sgt. Swanson. “because we didn’t want something to happen and someone asks why there was no regulation to the crossbows.”

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected].