Caribbean stands with Mexico Lawsuit against US Gun Manufacturers 

Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#TheBahamas, March 23, 2023  – ‘The gun manufacturers and distributors from a single nation must not be permitted to hold hostage the law-abiding citizens of an entire region of the world’ says The Bahamas in a new document throwing its support firmly behind Mexico in a $10 billion US appeals case.  It is attempting to hold US Gun Manufacturers accountable for the practices which allow copious amounts of their guns to be  smuggled into the Caribbean and Latin America. 

As the region struggles to cope with rising levels of gun violence, Bahamian Prime minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis announced that the country had joined an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in the US Court of Appeal in support of Mexico. 

Davis said The Bahamas was trying to reduce violent crime by cracking down on the proliferation of firearms and holding US gun manufacturers liable for the harm caused by their products was part of this.

Jamaica; Antigua & Barbuda; St. Vincent & the Grenadines; Trinidad & Tobago; and the Latin American and Caribbean Network for Human Security (“SEHLAC”) also joined with The Bahamas in the brief citing harmful practices from gun makers including the bulk sales to disreputable dealers. 

The brief highlights the effects of the loosely monitored gun industry on the skyrocketing murder rates in The Bahamas and increased kidnappings in Haiti maintaining that the US district court could: “Order manufacturers, to reduce the violence committed abroad involving their products by adopting “reasonable retail and manufacturing practices”, including refraining from supplying the small number of dealers whose misconduct precipitates the vast majority of illegal firearms trafficking” 

After recording an astronomical 23 percent in the global amount of homicides, the brief says countries are acting on their “ solemn duty to protect the lives, health, and security of their citizens.” 

The original complaint by Mexico, which names seven major manufacturers, was dismissed in a Massachusetts court in September 2022 and is now filed at the Court of Appeal as of March 2023