We must be inflexible with firearms

BarcelonaThe shooting death of a 15-year-old minor in the Pegaso park in the Sant Andreu district of Barcelona has caused understandable social alarm for several reasons. The main one is the victim's age, practically a child, but the next is that the weapon used was a pistol. This is a particularly worrying fact because the Mossos have already detected an increase in the use of firearms related to organized or disorganized crime, and they consider it an absolute priority right now. Furthermore, the murder did not occur within the framework of a fight between groups of young people, nor was it an isolated incident, but rather the Mossos are working with the hypothesis that the homicide or homicides expressly went to look for the victim and shot them with a firearm with the intention of killing.

With this, there are now ten homicides registered in the Catalan capital since the beginning of the year, and, although it is a low figure compared to most European cities, it is more than the nine that occurred during the whole of last year, and two less than those of all of 2024 (12). It is still too early to know if we are facing a temporary spike or a structural trend, but the Director General of the Police, Josep Lluís Trapero, is right when he calls for a hardening of penalties for carrying weapons without a permit, so that they include imprisonment.

Regardless of the outcome of the investigation into the minor in Pegaso park and their relationship with possible criminal structures, there is no doubt that Barcelona is becoming a usual scene for executions linked to international mafias involved in drug trafficking. What would be especially dangerous is if the violence of these mafias ended up filtering down to small-time dealers or youth gangs from marginal environments, where the possession of firearms can generate a certain fascination. For this reason, we must be inflexible with firearms, because, just as in countries like the United States it is common for the general population to own them, in the case of Catalonia it is a clear indication of criminal activity.

What must also be avoided is unnecessary alarmism or demagoguery. Stating, as councilor Jordi Martí has done, that "the mayor has lost control of the city" or demanding the resignations of councilor Núria Parlon and deputy mayor Albert Batlle for this crime, as the PP has done, is clearly disproportionate. On the contrary, what must be demanded is that the State government fulfill its commitments regarding both the increase in the number of Mossos and the improvement of international cooperation and the use of new technologies to prevent crime. And, on the other hand, to deepen social work in the neighborhoods to prevent delinquency from being an attractive option for many young people.

Delinquency and violence are multifactorial phenomena for which there are no magic recipes, nor do rhetorical appeals to a "tough hand" serve any purpose, as police officials well know. What is needed is rigorous and professional work.