CARICOM agrees to plan to ban assault weapons

The leaders of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries reached an agreement Tuesday on a plan to ban assault weapons, most of which are manufactured in the United States, in order to curb the increase in violence and arms smuggling in the 15-nation bloc.

The decision came after a two-day crime summit in Trinidad and Tobago. The bans would require a combination of legislative work and changes to licensing regulations.

Caribbean leaders had convened a roundtable to discuss the issue amid complaints from various governments about increasing gang violence, fueled by the availability of high-powered military-grade weapons, which are mainly trafficked from the United States. Joined.

Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, the Bahamas, Saint Lucia, and Barbados have complained about the rise in murders with firearms in recent years.

“CARICOM leaders have agreed today to take a decision to ban the use and presence of assault weapons among the civilian population of our nations,” the host Prime Minister, Keith Rowley, told reporters at the end of the the summit, which was attended by most heads of government.

The move came just weeks after several member nations announced plans to join Mexico in suing US arms manufacturers for smuggling weapons into their countries.

The Prime Minister of the Bahamas and CARICOM President, Phillip Davis, specified at the summit that the origin of 98.6% of the illegal firearms recovered in his country could be traced to the United States, while in Haiti the figure is 87.7% and in Jamaica 67%.

“Jamaica had an alarming homicide rate of 52.9 per 100,000 people,” he said, compared to the world average of around 7.5 per 100,000.

However, Davis did not have figures on what percentage of the weapons seized were assault weapons, and not handguns or other weapons that would not be affected by this week’s proposed ban.

Rowley said Caribbean countries would need laws to back up the ban, and called on opposition parties across the region to support any parliamentary action by their governments.

He noted that the Caribbean leaders have asked the President of the United States, Joe Biden, for a dialogue on the issue of weapons.

Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and activate notifications, or follow us on social networks: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.