Firearm News
Panama Police Lose 100 Military Guns, Grenades to Theft [ES]
28 September 2016
Panamá América
[Translated summary: At least 100 assault rifles, machine guns and grenades were allegedly stolen from the Institutional Protection Service, as reported by a lawyer with the Firearm Owners Association of Panama. The Association also noted that they receive between 15 and 30 gun theft complains each year, but that the police seize 1,500 in the same time.]
La supuesta pérdida de al menos un centenar de fusiles de asalto M4, ametralladoras y granadas dentro de los... (GunPolicy.org)
South America,Central America,Mexico
Latin America Recent Seizures Reveal Thriving Gun Trade [ES]
22 September 2016
InSight Crime (Bogotá)
[Translated summary: A series of recent raids and reports highlights the thriving arms trade in Latin America which continues to disrupt countries and entire regions. For example, a report by Prensa Libre found the 9mm pistol has been the weapon most commonly confiscated by Guatemala's National Police.]
Una serie de redadas e informes recientes ponen de relieve el floreciente negocio de armas en toda Latinoamérica, lo que sirve tanto para beneficio de los grupos... (GunPolicy.org)
Mexico,Central America,South America
Recent Seizures Point to Thriving Latin American Gun Trade
21 September 2016
InSight Crime (Bogotá)
A series of recent raids and reports highlights the thriving arms trade throughout Latin America, which serves to both profit illicit groups and to facilitate criminal violence in the region.
During a recent conference on armed violence in Central America, Ana Yancy Espinoza, academic director of the Costa Rican organization Fundación Arias, presented the results of an investigation on regional arms trafficking.
According to a press release from the Foundation for... (GunPolicy.org)
800,000 Guns, Mostly Illegal, Circulate in Honduras [ES]
20 September 2016
SwissInfo, Reuters
[Translated Summary: The International Committee for Human Rights estimates that between 800,000 and one million firearms circulate in Honduras, while about 282,000 are properly registered. Many of these are used by 60,000 security guards in private companies, while others are illegal or non-registered.]
Honduras, con más de 4 000 homicidios por año, es uno de los países más violentos del mundo y los derechos humanos, sector en el que la cooperación helvética... (GunPolicy.org)
Guatemala Why 9mm and .38 Illicit Handguns Proliferate [ES]
19 September 2016
Prensa Libre (Guatemala)
[Translated summary: The most common guns used in crimes in Guatemala, for their cheap prices and their characteristics, are the 9 mm pistol and the .38 revolver. According to the experts, the 9 mm can be disassembled in 5 pieces that are interchangeable with other pistols, as long as they are the same brand and calibre. Criminals use them so they can hide evidence by changing the barrels.]
Armas utilizadas en crímenes son desarmadas y sus piezas vendidas en mercado... (GunPolicy.org)
El Salvador,Central America,United States
M16, AK Assault Rifles Often Used By Gangs in El Salvador
12 September 2016
InSight Crime (Bogotá), El Faro
The government of El Salvador's militarized campaign against the country's street gangs has been met by an increasingly heavily armed reaction. El Faro's investigation indicates that the gangs' growing use of assault rifles is an echo of the civil war that ended almost 25 years ago.
"Our presumption is that many are from the civil war," responds Mauricio Ramírez Landaverde, the Minister of Public Security, when questioned on the origin of the weapons that Salvadoran... (GunPolicy.org)
Central America,Mexico,South America,United States
USA, Stop Enabling Latin America's Gun Addiction - Letter
11 September 2016
Americas Quarterly, Letter
Dear Mister / Madam President,
As the world's largest arms exporter, the U.S. plays an outsize role in fueling Latin America's insatiable addiction to firearms. To take one example, during most of the 1980s, El Salvador was the largest consumer of U.S. military hardware in the Americas, feeding one of the most vicious civil wars in Latin American history. And while the conflict ended in 1992, the legacy of its arms transfers remains: U.S. officials estimate that almost... (GunPolicy.org)
New Law Would Curb Gun Numbers, AK-47s in Honduras [ES]
11 September 2016
Tiempo (Honduras)
[Translated summary: A new gun control bill is proposed in Honduras, where 80% of violent crime involves firearms. The new law would reduce from 5 to 1 the number of guns allowed, and would increase from 18 to 21 the minimum age to get a licence. Some guns would be banned from civilian use, such as the AK-47. It is estimated that there are 400,000 legal and 800,000 illicit guns in Honduras.]
TEGUCIGALPA -- El Diputado del Congreso Nacional (CN), Osman Aguilar pidió a... (GunPolicy.org)
Brazil,Colombia,Mexico,Venezuela,United States,India,Nigeria,South Africa,El Salvador
World is Far Less Violent: Global Murders Halving in a Decade
7 September 2016
Foreign Affairs (USA)
The world has never been safer than it is right now. Most forms of violence have dropped precipitously over the past few centuries. Although conflict deaths recently spiked (the war in Syria accounts for one third of all war-related killings today), fewer people are dying from warfare than at virtually any time in human history. Terrorist violence also increased over the past two years—especially in six countries the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia—but it still... (GunPolicy.org)
El Salvador Criminal Gang Uses Mostly US-Made Rifles [ES]
7 September 2016
El Faro (El Salvador)
[Translated summary: "Maras" gangsters in El Salvador use assault weapons. The authorities, former soldiers, experts and even gang members confirm that most of them come from the civil war of the 80's. Police seize at least one rifle every 3 days and the most common are the M-16, the AK-47 and the Galil.]
El gobierno del FMLN combate contra mareros equipados con fusiles de asalto. Autoridades, excomandantes, excombatientes, académicos, expertos y los propios... (GunPolicy.org)
Most Security Guards Can No Longer Carry Guns in Costa Rica
7 September 2016
Q Costa Rica
In 90 days, most private security guards in the country must give up their firearms. Only bodyguards and guards involved in the transportation of valuables, such as armoured bank trucks guards can carry firearms.
Guards at condominiums, malls and banks, for example, will not be able to carry firearms according to the new requirements by Ministry of Security published last Friday in the official government newspaper, La Gaceta.
The head of the Asociación Costarricense... (GunPolicy.org)
New Gun Carry Controls for Private Security in Costa Rica [ES]
3 September 2016
El Mundo (Costa Rica)
[Translated Summary: The Public Health Ministry of Costa Rica has set up new controls on carrying firearms. Private security companies that want their officers armed should present a paper explaining their reasons, prepared by a criminologist who has to be part of the School of Professionals in Criminology.]
Los nuevos controles instaurados por el Ministerio de Seguridad Pública (MSP) a la portación de armas para oficiales de seguridad privados, entró en vigencia... (GunPolicy.org)
One Million Illegal Guns, 6,700 Seized in Honduras [ES]
4 August 2016
Radio HRN (Honduras)
[Translated summary: Honduras confiscated 6,700 firearms in the last two years, most of them from gangs. Types include AK-47 and AR-15 rifles, .45, .38 and 9 mm handguns, shotguns and handmade guns. It is estimated that the cost of the arms seized since 2014 exceeds 100 million lempiras (4.38 million USD). About 1 million illegal firearms circulate in Honduras and 400,000 are legally registered.]
En lo que va del año van más de 1,400 armas de fuego incautadas lo que... (GunPolicy.org)
In Honduras, 80% of Homicides are Committed with Guns [ES]
28 July 2016
InSight Crime (Bogotá)
[Translated Summary: Firearms are used in about 80% of all the homicides in Honduras. 39,111 of 48,094 registered homicides between 2008 and 2015 were committed with a firearm. In 2014, a Comission of the Congress estimated that there were 1,000,000 firearms in circulation and 700,000 of them were owned without a licence.]
Según informes, las armas de fuego son utilizadas en más del 80 por ciento de todos los homicidios en Honduras, casi el doble que el promedio... (GunPolicy.org)
Guatemala Destroys 5,409 Seized Crime Guns [ES]
21 July 2016
Wradio (Colombia), EFE News Agency
[Translated Summary: Specialized personnel from the Guatemala's Ministry of Defence destroyed 5,409 firearms from different calibres. These had been confiscated in different criminal acts. The firearms (pistols, revolvers, assault rifles, shotguns and rifles) were cut using a circular saw.]
GUATEMALA - Personal especializado del Ministerio de Defensa de Guatemala destruyó hoy 5.409 armas de fuego de distintos calibres que habían sido decomisadas en diferentes hechos... (GunPolicy.org)
South America,United States,Central America,Mexico
USA Floods Mexico with 200,000 Illegal Guns Every Year [ES]
17 July 2016
RT (Moscow)
[Translated Summary: According to a Peruvian journalist, the abundance of firearms in any Latin American country is almost always directly proportional to its proximity to the local superpower. In 2014, over 28,000 American firearms valued at US$21.6 million entered legally to Mexico, but every year an average of 212,000 firearms enter illegally.]
En América Latina se registran 76.000 muertes por año vinculadas al uso de armas de fuego. Sobre este total la mayoría... (GunPolicy.org)
Brazil,South America,Argentina,Central America,Mexico
Handgun Trade Worth US$699 Million in Latin America [ES]
30 June 2016
Gestion (Peru)
[Translated Summary: According to a survey by a research team in Geneva, in the past year the three Latin American countries that exported most handguns were Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. The countries that imported most handguns were Mexico, Chile and Colombia. The US was the main buyer.]
La encuesta de armas pequeñas del 2015 reveló cifras de los principales países latinoamericanos exportadores e importadores de armas de fuego autorizadas. La encuesta fue... (GunPolicy.org)
Costa Rica Aims to Curb Misuse of 25,000 Security Guns [ES]
23 June 2016
Prensa Libre (Costa Rica)
[Translated summary: A new measure by Costa Rica's Ministry of Security will make it harder for private security companies to obtain licences for purchasing firearms. This way, the Ministry hopes to prevent more than 25,000 unjustified guns from reaching the streets. 98% of homicides in Costa Rica are committed with firearms that, many of which come from private security companies.]
Ya no serían entregadas con tanta facilidad a empresas de seguridad
Con el propósito... (GunPolicy.org)
400 Detained for Illegal Possession of Guns in Panama [ES]
6 June 2016
El Siglo (Panama)
[Translated Summary: Panama Police confiscated 535 firearms and arrested 400 persons for illegal possession of these firearms in the first five months of 2016. ]
La Policía de Panamá decomisó 535 armas de fuego y detuvo a 400 personas por el delito de tenencia ilícita de este armamento en los primeros cinco meses de 2016, indicó hoy una fuente oficial.
Entre los pertrechos hay pistolas, revólveres, escopetas, rifles, fusiles, sub-ametralladora y otras armas de... (GunPolicy.org)
Central America,Germany,El Salvador
El Salvador Accuses Its Own Ambassador of Gun Trafficking
6 June 2016
InSight Crime (Bogota)
Prosecutors in El Salvador have asked Congress to strip the country's ambassador to Germany and former Defense minister of immunity so they can pursue charges against him related to an alleged arms trafficking ring.
The Attorney General's Office is accusing Gen. Jose Atilio Benítez of fraud, illegal possession of weapons, and illegal arms trafficking, La Prensa Grafica reported. The prosecutors alleged that Benítez ordered subordinates to fraudulently register... (GunPolicy.org)