With the current surge in gun-related crime, Barbadians could not be faulted if they started to believe that authorities were losing, or have already lost, their handle on crime. This might not be the case, but in recent weeks the mounting body count at the mortuary or on operating tables at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital offers no comfort.However, neither law enforcement nor Barbadians can afford to throw their hands in the air in resignation or defeat. Nor must our politicians and police officials try to placate the worries of law-abiding citizens with deadpan statements about overall crime being down compared to last year, or that there were two more murders in 2020 and 2021 compared to 2022.When citizens are confronted with bullets being sprayed wantonly at boat cruises, restaurants and bars, karaoke sessions, recreational parks, in homes and on the streets, they crave assertive corrective measures and view pandering statistics as Disraeli would.