Bahamas has HIGHEST GUN TRAFFICKING numbers says U.S. Report

Garfield Ekon

Staff Writer

The Bahamas, December 3, 2024 – The Bahamian Government is instituting measures to ensure the reduction of illegal guns trafficked into the islands from the United States (US), according to Prime Minister, Hon. Philip Brave Davis.

His comments came after a recent report on gun trafficking in the Caribbean found that The Bahamas had the highest percentage of recovered firearms that were sourced in the US and traced to US retail purchasers.

“You know, I’ve been talking about the proliferation of arms in our country [emanating] from the United States for quite a while,” Prime Minister Davis said, in response to the report.

“Their report confirms what we believe and on the world stage I’ve been speaking about the fact that the United States’ right to bear arms cannot translate or mean a right to traffic in arms.”

Lamenting the fact that in spite of collaboration between local law enforcement and US authorities, illegal weapons continue to be smuggled into The Bahamas, he said “unfortunately the trafficking is still continuing but we’ve been able to trace and track, and some of the straw purchasers in the United States have been arrested and been charged in the United States,” he stated.

“We are making some progress. It is alarming. As you know, most of our violent crimes are perpetrated by guns which we don’t manufacture … [and have] been illegally brought into the country and we are attempting to find ways to continue to stem that tide,” the PM pointed out.

Ironically, the report preceded a shocking announcement of an indictment of 13 men, 11 from The Bahamas including Royal Bahamas Police and Defence Force members and two Colombians; charged with conspiracies related to firearms and narcotics trafficking through The Bahamas into the United States.

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) prepared and published the report. It found that the majority of guns recovered in the Caribbean – 73 percent – between 2018 and 2022 were traced back to the United States and trafficked to the Caribbean by various means.

It said 45 percent of these trafficked guns “could be sourced back to an initial retail purchase in the United States, with most sales originating in Florida, Texas, and Georgia”. The remaining 27 percent of recovered and traced firearms were either traced to 35 other countries (23 percent) or their source was of undetermined origin (four percent), the report said.

The report said that the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) processed 7,399 traces of firearms recovered in crimes in the Caribbean from 2018 through 2022.