And while gunplay continues to create chaos in the streets - police today received a new tool to help them properly dispose of weapons that have been found or confiscated.
In the past we've witnessed many gun destructions before - where welding torches are used to destroy the firearms.
But a new tool does it far more efficiently. It is a donation from a UN agency and part of a wider regional programme.
Here's how it will work in Belize...
Jules Vasquez reporting
It's called a hydraulic shear - and it's used to destroy weapons. No high tech sorcery or laser beams, it simply massive clamping power to crush and snap gun barrels and stocks leaving them in unusable metal scraps.
The devise is housed at the Queen Street police station and it is part of an initiative by The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affair's Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC), called stockpile management.
Melanie Regimbal - Director, UN LiREC
"As many of you know all too well our region has the dubious honour of having the highest homicide and violence rates in the world. Nearly 80% of all homicides are committed with firearms either trafficked illegally across our borders or stolen from private or government facilities."
"Today we are here to oversee the handing over and training of the use of the hydraulic shears that will leave the government of Belize with permanent and effective capacity to destroy confiscated surplus and obsolete weapon until the material can be recycle and disposed of properly."
Lt. Col. George Lovell, CEO, Ministry of National Security
"There is still a lot that needs to be done. The whole matter of protective security of stock piles of arms and ammunition needs closer attention. Weapon storage facilities and the way they are manage have a lot to be desire especially with the growing threat now stems from organize gangs and their illicit linkages."
Police did not say how many weapons - hopefully in better condition than these ones - are currently stockpiled for destruction - but once the shears crush them - the gun parts are done for:
Melanie Regimbal - Director, UN LiREC
"You saw the power of those shears - once they have been cut they are rendered absolutely useless and cannot be re-transformed into weapons. What it can be done is serves as metal and pieces that can then be re-invested in the community either as artwork or as part of metals to do constructions or things like that."
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