CARICOM to ban assault weapons for civilians

Frustrated Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders have agreed to ban assault weapons mostly manufactured in the US to stem a significant spike in gun violence and weapons smuggling in the 15-nation bloc. The decision to do so came late Tuesday at the end of a special two-day summit on crime as a public health issue held in Trinidad.

The leaders had called a special roundtable on the issue amid complaints from several governments about an increase in gangland violence bolstered by the availability of high powered weapons smuggled mostly from the US. Jamaica, Trinidad, The Bahamas, St. Lucia and Barbados have all complained about an increase in gun murders in recent years. The leaders say the time to act is now and they have come up with several proposals to beat back crime including a ban on assault weapons for ordinary residents.

“CARICOM heads have agreed today to take a decision to ban the use and presence of assault weapons in the civilian population of our nations,” host Prime Minister Keith Rowley told reporters at the end of the summit that was attended by a majority of heads of government.  “We are saying that we do not require those weapons within our society in a commonplace way because of the outcome of the presence in the society. We can continue to provide protection with a small number of handguns in the population,” he said.

The move came just a few weeks after several member nations announced plans to join up with Mexico to sue American gun manufacturers to make them accountable for the guns they produce, blaming them for the presence of thousands of weapons smuggled into the bloc each year.

Giving an example of the situation, Bahamian Prime Minister and CARICOM Chairman Phillip Davis told the summit that most of the weapons come from the US. “In the Bahamas, 98.6 percent of all recovered illegal firearms can be traced directly to the United States. In Haiti, 87.7 per cent of all recovered firearms can be traced likewise. In Jamaica, it amounts to 67 per cent and here in Trinidad, 52 per cent.” He also told colleagues that up to last year “Jamaica had a staggering homicide rate of 52.9 per 100,000 inhabitants, Trinidad and Tobago had a rate of 39.4, The Bahamas, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines all recorded homicide rates above 30. This is over five times the global average.”

Elaborating on the weapons ban, PM Rowley said legislation will be brought to support the ban as he called on opposition parties throughout the region to support any parliamentary action by governments.

He noted that leaders had already asked President Joe Biden for dialogue on the weapons issue, adding that the region is confident it will discuss the issue with the Americans at the highest level.

Other issues agreed on include plans to strengthen the forensic and investigative abilities of regional police forces, put a regional arrest warrant system in place and stand as a bloc with Mexico in its $10 billion lawsuit against gun manufacturers among others.