Firearm News
Jamaica,Haiti,United States
Jamaica and Haiti Swap Drugs and Guns
30 August 2022
InSight Crime
Criminal gangs in Jamaica and Haiti are engaged in a deadly trade: the exchange of marijuana for guns.
Boats loaded with up to 3,000 pounds of cannabis take off from Jamaica's coastline, speeding across the Caribbean to nearby Haiti, where the drugs are swapped for handguns and high-powered assault weapons. The boats return with the firearms, which are then sold off piecemeal or in bulk.
The guns-for-drugs trade, as it is known in Jamaica, is greased by traffickers... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: InSight Crime
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Dominican Republic
Dominican Gun Dealers Scoff at Import Ban
25 July 2022
Dominican Today
Santo Domingo -- In four years, the Ministry of the Interior and Police issued 57 permits to import firearms, although a decree prohibits doing so.
The entity does not know how many weapons have been introduced into the national territory despite the that the law empowers it to establish the maximum and amount that must be imported by each gun shop.
With an unreliable database, as admitted by the deputy minister of weapons, Aníbal Amparo García, the institution... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Dominican Today
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Haiti,United States
Scandal at Haiti Customs After Over 100,000 Rounds of Smuggled Ammunition Seized
8 July 2022
InSight Crime
Haiti's Customs Agency has seized an extremely large quantity of illegally imported ammunition the same day that its director was replaced on suspicion of arms trafficking, highlighting the Caribbean nation's struggle in combating weapons flows.
On July 1, customs and police authorities interdicted roughly 120,000 rounds of ammunition on board a container ship at Port-au-Paix wharf. The illegal cargo, which had come from the US state of Florida, was almost entirely... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: InSight Crime
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Jamaica
Jamaica Sees an Increase In Firearm Seizure From January To June
6 July 2022
Jamaica Information Service
The Jamaica Constabulary (JCF) Force is reporting a seven per cent increase in the seizure of illicit guns in the first six months of 2022 over the same period last year.
Addressing a virtual press briefing on July 5, Commissioner of Police, Major General Antony Anderson, informed that 392 firearms have been taken off the streets through the collaborative efforts of the JCF, Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), and other law-enforcement partners.
He said the figure represents... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Jamaica Information Service
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Jamaica
Can United Nations Help Jamaica Finally Curb Gun Violence?
28 June 2022
InSight Crime
In its latest bid to curb the flow of illegal firearms and ensuing violence, Jamaica has turned to the United Nations for help.
Scheduled to run until December 2022, Reducing Small Arms and Light Weapons Joint Programme, referred to as SALIENT, boasts an over $70 million budget and a range of programs spearheaded by the United Nations (UN) in Jamaica.
According to a statement from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), "SALIENT aims to dismantle the factors... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: InSight Crime
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Puerto Rico
In Puerto Rico, Buying a Gun Is Now Easier Than Ever
26 June 2022
Global Press Journal
The Puerto Rico Weapons Act of 2020, which made legally obtaining and carrying a firearm much easier, is now over two years old — and Puerto Ricans are buying guns as never before. Nearly 100,000 gun licenses were issued in 2020 and 2021 in total, compared to around 1,200 in 2017.
[Chart in the original]
The Puerto Rico Weapons Act of 2020 was established to create a "new law that conforms to the current reality by seeking a balance between the constitutional right... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Global Press Journal
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Jamaica
'SALIENT Jamaica' To Tackle Small Arms Trafficking
22 June 2022
Jamaica Information Service
The Norwood area in St. James and Denham Town in Kingston stand to benefit from Jamaica's first community violence audit to support the prevention and reduction of gun violence under a United Nations Jamaica joint programme.
The more than $70-million national initiative 'Reducing Small Arms and Light Weapons Joint Programme, also known as SALIENT Jamaica, aims to dismantle the factors that make it possible for the illicit trafficking of firearms and ammunitions into... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Jamaica Information Service
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Dominican Republic,Haiti
US Guns Fuel Arms Trafficking in the Dominican Republic
3 June 2022
InSight Crime
Seizures of military-style assault weapons in the Dominican Republic are raising concerns that criminal groups are accessing powerful firearms smuggled from the United States and elsewhere.
On May 26, Dominican customs and police authorities launched a sting operation to dismantle an arms trafficking ring smuggling weapons into the Caribbean nation from the United States, according to a news release by the nation's customs authority.
During the raid at Haina Port,... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: InSight Crime
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Dominican Republic,United States,Haiti
US Guns Fuel Arms Trafficking in the Dominican Republic
3 June 2022
InSight Crime
Seizures of military-style assault weapons in the Dominican Republic are raising concerns that criminal groups are accessing powerful firearms smuggled from the United States and elsewhere.
On May 26, Dominican customs and police authorities launched a sting operation to dismantle an arms trafficking ring smuggling weapons into the Caribbean nation from the United States, according to a news release by the nation's customs authority.
During the raid at Haina Port,... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: InSight Crime
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Jamaica,Haiti
Jamaica Hatches New Plan to Seize Illegal Guns as Murders Soar
10 February 2022
InsightCrime
As attention continues to focus on Jamaica's spiraling homicides, the country's prime minister has promised to stem the violence by clamping down on illegal firearms – a proposition that is easier said than done.
More than 90 guns have been seized as part of the government's "Get Every Illegal Gun" campaign, which launched in early February. The Jamaica Constabulary Force confiscated the latest batch at a gated community in Trelawney after a shootout that left a top... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: InsightCrime
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Jamaica
Government Rolls Out "Operation Get Every Illegal Gun"
7 February 2022
Jamaica Information Service
Prime Minister Andrew Holness is appealing to persons who are in possession of illegal weapons to give them up and to use the information channels available to provide information on where illegal guns can be recovered and gunmen arrested.
The Prime Minister's appeal comes as the Government rolled out "Operation Get Every Illegal Gun".
Noting that there are several key elements to the "Get Every Illegal Gun" campaign, the Prime Minister said some are highly... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Jamaica Information Service
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Jamaica,Venezuela,Honduras,Trinidad & Tobago,Colombia,Belize,Mexico,Brazil,El Salvador,Guatemala,Guyana,Ecuador,Haiti,Panama,Costa Rica,Dominican Republic,Uruguay,Paraguay,Nicaragua,Peru,Chile,Argentina,Bolivia
InSight Crime's 2021 Homicide Round-Up
1 February 2022
InSight Crime
In 2021, most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean experienced a marked increase in murders. Resurgent violence was to be expected after some of the world's longest COVID-19 lockdowns were lifted.
Much of the population found themselves sinking deeper into poverty. With schools late to reopen, teenagers returned to the streets with little to do, making them prime targets for recruitment.
The pandemic also made law enforcement more difficult. Police were... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: InSight Crime
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Trinidad & Tobago
Gun Permits On Hold in Trinidad and Tobago
6 October 2021
Newsday (Trinidad and Tobago)
The police firearms unit at the core of the imbroglio involving former police commissioner Gary Griffith, the now defunct Police Service Commission (PSC) and the leadership of the service, is in "quarantine."
On Saturday, the Prime Minister, during his media briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's said the firearms department was closed.
"One of the recommendations that came through the plethora was that the the firearms department in the police service (is)... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Newsday (Trinidad and Tobago)
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Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic To Buy Back Privately Owned Guns
22 March 2021
Telesur (Venezuela)
This policy seeks to reduce the levels of violence associated with the illegal possession of weapons in this Caribbean country.
The Dominican Republic's President Luis Abinader announced that a program to buy illegal weapons will start on April 6 to reduce the violence levels.
Besides the destruction of the weapons, his plan establishes compensation in cash and coupons redeemable for any product in commercial establishments.
It also includes compensation for police,... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Telesur (Venezuela)
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Jamaica,Venezuela,Haiti,Honduras,Trinidad & Tobago,Mexico,Belize,Colombia,El Salvador,Brazil,Puerto Rico,Guatemala,Pakistan,Panama,Costa Rica,Nicaragua,Uruguay,Dominican Republic,Peru,Ecuador,Paraguay,Argentina,Chile,Bolivia
InSight Crime's 2020 Homicide Round-Up
29 January 2021
InSight Crime
While unrest gripped much of Latin America in 2019, it was the coronavirus that took center stage and ripped through the region in 2020, upending everything from commercial trade to the operations of local gangs and transnational criminal organizations.
It's too early to tell with any degree of certainty how exactly the pandemic may have impacted levels of violence, but there were notable developments, including significant reductions in El Salvador, Guatemala,... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: InSight Crime
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Jamaica,Honduras,Trinidad & Tobago,El Salvador,Belize,Mexico,Colombia,Guatemala,Puerto Rico,Brazil,Panama,Costa Rica,Uruguay,Dominican Republic,Peru,Nicaragua,Ecuador,Argentina,Chile,Bolivia,Paraguay
InSight Crime's 2019 Homicide Round-Up
28 January 2020
InSight Crime
Unrest gripped much of Latin America and the Caribbean throughout 2019. From record violence in Mexico that recalled the darkest days of the drug war, to increased fighting among armed groups in Colombia vying for control in the absence of the FARC and a rise in massacres in Honduras, the region was again one of the world's most homicidal last year.
In its annual Homicide Round-Up, InSight Crime looks into the country-by-country murder rates and the factors... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: InSight Crime
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Jamaica,United States
How American Gun Laws Are Fueling Jamaica's Homicide Crisis
29 August 2019
New York Times
She came to Jamaica from the United States about four years ago, sneaking in illegally, stowed away to avoid detection. Within a few short years, she became one of the nation's most-wanted assassins.
She preyed on the parish of Clarendon, carrying out nine confirmed kills, including a double homicide outside a bar, the killing of a father at a wake and the murder of a single mother of three. Her violence was indiscriminate: She shot and nearly killed a 14-year-old girl... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: New York Times
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