NASSAU, Bahamas — There needs to be a crackdown on gun smuggling from the United States (US) to the Caribbean, including The Bahamas, Prime Minister Philip Davis said yesterday, adding that he has brought the issue up with high-ranking US officials, The Nassau Guardian reported on Tuesday, May 31.
Davis said more than 90 percent of guns confiscated and used as murder weapons in The Bahamas can be traced to American manufacturers and gun shops.
“We are saying to the Americans that they need to do more,” said Davis on the sidelines of the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police’s 36th Annual General Meeting and Conference at Baha Mar.
“We don’t want to get involved in their domestic issue about the right to bear arms. We are concerned that purchasers of guns are not just buying [them] to bear [but] rather to export.
“There needs to [be] an intervention and where the evidence appears to them that a person is not buying it and exercising their right to bear it, but buying it with the purpose of trafficking, some legislative intervention needs to be engaged to make those persons responsible and accountable for the arms they purchase.
“I’ve spoken to a number of high-ranking US authorities from Washington on this.”
Davis said he spoke on behalf of the region during his conversations with the US officials. He said those officials promised to intervene to see how the concerns can be addressed.
Davis said he plans to continue to agitate for the US government to act on the issue.
“One step they have taken is to post an ATF – alcohol, tobacco and firearm – individual to the embassy,” he said. “That’s a step in the right direction.”
Davis said the Americans also appointed another individual from the Department of Homeland Security to assist The Bahamas in identifying and tracing firearms and finding those responsible for the illicit trade. See complete article in The Nassau Guardian at https://thenassauguardian.com/pm-presses-us-on-gun-smuggling/
