Business
The Caribbean Is becoming like the Wild West: Thanks to the US Gun In Barrel Scheme
BY MICHAEL THOMAS
While it’s impossible to know how many weapons are successfully smuggled, US investigators admit that the number of guns illegally smuggled into the Caribbean has increased in recent years, and so have violent crimes.
As a Caribbean man, it is not a good feeling to read a report that states that of the 10 countries with the world’s highest homicide rates in 2022, half of them were in the Caribbean.
The gun wars have become so prevalent in the islands now that once relatively quiet islands like the British territory of Turks & Caicos, have seen homicide rates rise by 150% since 2021, according to Insight Crime, a Washington-based research organization that studies organized crime in the Americas.
It is estimated that around 90% of the guns used to commit crimes in the Caribbean are guns bought legally in the U.S., and then smuggled into the Caribbean region.
According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, when the guns found at crime scenes are traced to their source; of the 9,000 Caribbean crime guns that were recovered and traced from 2017 to 2021, only 724 had been legally exported from the US, the rest were smuggled into the islands.
The Caribbean homicide rates in 2022 far exceeded US and global averages. Here is a small sample of the gun crimes by Islands when compared to the U.S
The Bahamas 31.2%, Dominican Republic 12.4%, Puerto Rico 17.6%, Antigua & Barbuda 10.7%, Saint Lucia 36.7%, Barbados 15.3%, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 40.4%, Trinidad and Tobago 39.5%, and Jamaica 53.3% homicide rate per 100,000 population. These figures came from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
As the above figures show, Jamaica now ranks first in the world with an overall homicide rate of about 53 per 100,000, according to the UN. That’s more than eight times that of the US.
Amid all the stats and fancy wording, there is a sad point to be made here. Caribbean leaders say that they have pulled millions from their already small budget to help the U.S. fight their war on drugs and are now looking forward to the U.S. doing the same with the island’s gun problem.
“As we have assisted them in the war on drugs, they must assist us in the war on guns,” Andrew Holness, the Jamaican Prime Minister said.
If the U.S. does not reciprocate, the Caribbean could and might become like Mexico where law enforcement officials estimate that organized criminals who are heavily armed with US-made weapons control a sizable portion of that country’s territory.
Is America complicit in all this? Oh yes. It is well documented how U.S. weapons that are legally exported to other countries and end up in the wrong hands have caused devastation on a massive scale to those importing countries.
Does America care? I digress. Behar, a former ATF agent, recalled a former supervisor’s reaction when he suggested they needed more support for international investigations. He said, “Look, the gun left the US — what the hell do I care about it? It’s not my problem.”
Some officials from the US and Caribbean say the system effectively protects gun dealers and makers from accountability while leading many smuggling investigations to dead ends.
Caribbean leaders who mistakenly keep looking to the U.S. for help with their gun problems at home, need to take a second look at the U.S. and their policies.
According to Graham Husbands, a firearms examiner in Barbados for nearly three decades, “Even by the ATF’s accounting, it’s failing to meet its goal of inspecting each of the country’s 78,000-gun dealers and makers once every three years. The agency reported in 2022 that it would need more than double its inspector ranks to reach that target.”
There is no quick and easy way to solve the gun problem as even the U.S. are now finding out. ATF inspectors showed up to inspect a gun shop in Atlanta but were met by a congressional delegation.
In America’s case, the delegation was only protecting their Second Amendment rights. It is said that these rights were put in place to make sure the public had protection just in case the government decided to turn rogue. Has America’s government gone rogue? That is a subject for another article.
One thing is clear, as Philip Davis, the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, put it last year at a law-enforcement conference, “The right to bear arms in the United States does not mean that there is also a right to traffic those arms to Caribbean countries.”
On the subject of gun crimes in the islands and looking to the U.S. for help. The Island politicians must surely realize by now that “You just do not ask a pussycat if he or she ate the slice of cheese.”
Three children’s toothpaste that you should avoid giving your children
Are you really sick? Ontario School Boards hire private investigators to deal with rising rates of absenteeism
Seven new technologies to look out for in 2025; The Consumer Electronics Show 2025
Ask yourselves; are you ok with mediocre service, or are we just used to it?
If you wear synthetic extensions, wigs, or weaves, i think you should read this article!
Is President Elect Trump set to dismantle American democracy?
YOGA: Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation) for sufferers of hypertension or heart disease
Kemtek Development launches new exclusive gated community in Jamaica!
Tourism-Related Live Streaming – The Manifold Ways it Can Create a Buzz for a Destination
Ravi’s West Indian Grocery – Fresh Products Weekly Straight from Guyana!
Send groceries to Jamaica in a flash, how? GroceryList Jamaica
Masks On, Mask Off – Is widespread masking a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic?
Nadine Sutherland – A woman who continues to reinvent herself
Knia Singh – Light Up The Darkness
Spragga Benz – Light Up The Darkness
Kyle Kemper – Light Up The Darkness
David Icke – Light Up The Darkness
Ohio’s Bill 248 and Dr. Sherri Tenpenny’s compelling testimony
-
Community News1 week agoPolitricks – “I intend to resign.” Prime Minister took to the podium to try and fool Canadians just one more time
-
Community News1 week agoWhat new laws and rules should Ontario citizens be prepared for in 2025
-
Community News1 week agoRemoval of Director of Education at Waterloo District School Board raises questions
-
Junior Contributors2 weeks ago“I hope they get found and are safe!” What are young people saying about missing boys in Ontario?
-
Junior Contributors2 weeks agoSo, will future generations be able to afford houses? Maybe not in the same way
-
Community News1 week agoIs it morally wrong to celebrate the killing of a victim belonging to a system perceived to be evil?
-
Community News5 days agoIs bringing Police back into Ontario Schools the best idea? Community weigh in
-
Junior Contributors2 weeks agoWhat parents should know about the current challenges their children face in school