Every kind of gun is flooding into Port-au-Prince. Haitians are blaming the US.

“All the guns here are from the US, everybody knows it. If the US wants to stop this, they could easily do it one month!” He pleads: “We are asking the US to give us a chance to live, just give us a chance.”

For a country that does not manufacture weapons, a UN report in January found every type of gun was flooding Port-au-Prince: high-powered rifles such as AK47s, 9mm pistols, sniper rifles and machine guns.

The weapons are fuelling the staggering surge in Haiti’s gang-related violence.

There is no exact number for how many trafficked firearms are currently in Haiti.

The UN report said some estimates put it at half a million legal and illegal weapons here as of 2020.

It reported that guns and ammunition were being smuggled in from land, air and sea from US states such as Florida, Texas and Georgia.

  • Որբունի@jlai.lu
    1·
    9 months ago

    I meant the checks by dealers are the thing in the US. And the “loopholes” for private sales and transfers aren’t everywhere and their federal laws are harsher than in most of Europe.

    If someone has traces of THC in their system they’re automatically a criminal if they handle a gun. If they downloaded a film and they’re a convenient target politically they can also get in trouble (unenforced laws are enforceable).