Community | June 21, 2009 | 31 comments

Guns from America fuel Jamaica's gang wars

source: http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=jacksonsun&sParam=31010965.s...

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Ships from Miami steam into Jamaica's main harbor loaded with TV sets and blue jeans. But some of the most popular U.S. imports never appear on the manifests: handguns, rifles and bullets that stoke one of the world's highest murder rates.

The volume is much less than the flow of U.S. guns into Mexico that end up in the hands of drug cartels -- Jamaican authorities recover fewer than 1,000 firearms a year. But of those whose origin can be traced, 80 percent come from the U.S., Jamaican law enforcement officials have said in interviews with The Associated Press.

And as the Obama administration cracks down on smuggling into Mexico, Jamaicans fear even more firearms will reach the gangs whose turf wars plague the island of 2.8 million people.

"It's going to push a lot of that trade back toward the Caribbean like it was back in the '80s," said Vance Callender, an attache at the U.S. Embassy in Kingston for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

U.S. authorities are beginning to target the Jamaican gun-smuggling network as part of a broad effort to boost security in the Caribbean.

But they have a long way to go. Jamaican authorities have confiscated only 100 guns coming into ports in the last five years, along with 6,000 rounds of ammunition. That in turn is just a fraction of the 700 or so weapons confiscated on the streets each year.

Authorities know they're only seeing "the tip of the iceberg," said Mark Shields, Jamaica's deputy police commissioner.

With arsenals to rival police firepower, the gangs are blamed for 90 percent of the homicides in Jamaica -- 1,611 last year, about 10 times more than the U.S. rate, relative to population.

Unlike in Mexico, the vast majority of Jamaican guns seized are submitted for tracing. Jamaica and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives find most of the seized weapons come from three Florida counties -- Orange, Dade and Broward -- all with large Jamaican populations, according to Shields.

X-ray scanners were installed two years ago at Jamaican ports, but the gangs use bribery and intimidation to get their shipments past inspectors.

In April, a newly hired customs supervisor had his tires slashed and days later was shot at on his way home from work, authorities say. The man was known for his strict scrutiny of cargo coming into a gang-infiltrated warehouse on the Kingston wharf.

When the gangs apply pressure, "no one says no," said Danville Walker, Jamaica's commissioner of customs.

"It's a massive problem," said Leslie Green, a Jamaican assistant police commissioner. "There aren't any checks or any controls on goods leaving the United States. Yet anything leaving here, we have to make sure it's double-checked and tripled-checked for drugs."

This complaint -- that Americans care only what comes in, not what goes out -- echoes that of Mexican authorities, who say cars going from the U.S. into Mexico aren't searched for weapons or cash.
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31 comments // Guns from America fuel Jamaica's gang wars

  • Robroy1
    • 0
      Robroy1  

    • America is one of the biggest if the the biggest supplier of all weaspons in the world and the Bush family owns a big piece of the action, is anyone i mean anyone at all surprised? Start an illegal takeover of a country so you can seel them guns, ammmo, rockets etc. Are things getting clearer now? Wake up people, put the war mongers in prsion.

    • 2 years ago
  • div
    • 0
      div  

    • Well, I don't want to take anyone's right to own a gun away, mr. Ihatethemall. I couldn't care less if you own a gun, registered or not. But see, the thing is, you're probably not buying in bulk and selling them to any idiot on the street, are you?

      A lot of the guns on the streets in my home town in Canada come from the US, and that number is only increasing. Shootings have gone up. There's a correlation.
      -> you might say that they could be using guns sold in Canada, except that they're much harder to get, and illegally smuggled guns from America are cheaper..

      Of course, if someone wants a gun, they'll get a gun somehow or another, but why make it easier for them?

      And please, try and prove that the increase in gang-wars and murder up north here are due to some kind of corruption.

      Honestly, learn to accept the fact that what goes on in America affects those closest to it. C'mon, be a grown up.

    • 2 years ago
  • Ricky84
    • 0
      Ricky84  
    • div:

      “A lot of the guns on the streets in my home town in Canada come from the US, and that number is only increasing. Shootings have gone up. There's a correlation.”
      Correlation does not equal causation so to justify your entire viewpoint by a single condition is just bad form. Case in point you’ll never hear England blame Ireland for the rise in stabbings based on cheap unregulated cutlery. Yet for some reason you think its fine to base your own argument on an equally weak claim.
      “-> you might say that they could be using guns sold in Canada, except that they're much harder to get, and illegally smuggled guns from America are cheaper.”
      This is just a distraction from the real issue at hand based on the faulty logic from your last statement. You can’t base the majority, or even a significant minority, of criminal behavior on the idea that easily acquired weapons automatically equals more crime. That’s prejudice as hell and pretty funny since your country has more guns per capita than most countries.
      At any rate I’d like to know the difference between an unprovoked attack with a gun and an unprovoked attack by a knife. No matter how you slice it its still attempted murder and no less disgusting whatever the choice in weaponry.
      “Of course, if someone wants a gun, they'll get a gun somehow or another,”
      Uh-huh
      “ but why make it easier for them?”
      So basically you’re saying we need to do more to restrict the rights of free individuals to stop criminal activities because somehow criminals are nicer folks when law abiding citizens get shafted.
      “And please, try and prove that the increase in gang-wars and murder up north here are due to some kind of corruption”
      See and I always thought crime was largely the product of a poor upbringing, poverty, and so on and so forth. At any rate I’m pretty sure Ihatethemall blamed the ease at which weapons were smuggled on corruption and not the reason WHY they were being smuggled.
      “C'mon, be a grown up.”
      Yeah tell that to your buddies who like to demonize individuals because they hunt or believe in self defense. Call me crazy but American Indians use to hunt all the time, but that doesn’t mean its right to call them savages. Same argument applies to martial arts practitioners. Or is it safe to assume every Brazilian Jujitsu or Shaolin Kung Fu practitioner is a raving lunatic?

    • 2 years ago
  • jh64487
    • 0
      jh64487  
    • div:

      "Correlation does not equal causation so to justify your entire viewpoint by a single condition is just bad form."

      yes yes and because there's no proof of god not existing clearly he does. strong enough correlation can be a clear sign of causation.

      "Case in point you’ll never hear England blame Ireland for the rise in stabbings based on cheap unregulated cutlery."

      what knives are we talking about? because switch blades and the like are certainly illegal.

      "You can’t base the majority, or even a significant minority, of criminal behavior on the idea that easily acquired weapons automatically equals more crime. That’s prejudice as hell and pretty funny since your country has more guns per capita than most countries."

      no, austrailia shows you are correct. however, you can say that easily acquiring weapons ILLEGALLY equals more crime. yes, you certainly can. you do realize we also have one of the highest crime rates in the developed world right? more people in prison, more homicides, the whole shebang.

      "So basically you’re saying we need to do more to restrict the rights of free individuals to "

      why do individuals need battlefield weaponry?

      "Yeah tell that to your buddies who like to demonize individuals because they hunt or believe in self defense."

      do you use an uzi or an AK-47 (or hell, grenades and launchers) to hunt deer? for self protection?...NO

      "Or is it safe to assume every Brazilian Jujitsu or Shaolin Kung Fu practitioner is a raving lunatic?"

      ...um...how many practitioners have you met? kidding!...(sorta)

    • 2 years ago
  • Ihatethemall
    • 0
      Ihatethemall  
    • div:

      Maybe Canada should tighten their borders if they are having trouble with stuff getting smuggled. I can tell you from experiance as a long haul trucker who goes into Canada often that they don't do as good of a job checking what comes into the country as the U.S. does

    • 2 years ago
  • Ricky84
    • 0
      Ricky84  
    • div:

      “yes yes and because there's no proof of god not existing clearly he does. strong enough correlation can be a clear sign of causation.”
      Right so the belief in a higher power based solely on the inability to prove a negative is somehow not the same as basing a viewpoint on one correlation? WTF man are you even paying attention to what you type?
      “what knives are we talking about? because switch blades and the like are certainly illegal.”
      Switchblades have definitely been illegal in the UK and most of the US since the fifties. The recent rise of stabbings in the UK has nothing to do with a rise in availability of “switchblades” and a lot more to do with shifting social conditions.
      “you can say that easily acquiring weapons ILLEGALLY equals more crime. yes, you certainly can. you do realize we also have one of the highest crime rates in the developed world right? more people in prison, more homicides, the whole shebang.”
      Again this is the exact same argument I hear from the radical right about rap music. It’s junk JH get over it. You’re placing the cart before the horse again and completely scapegoating the issue. Criminals do not commit crimes because they have guns, criminals commit crimes because they are criminals.
      At any rate the number of crimes committed by criminals BECAUSE they successfully acquired a gun represents an insignificant minority compared to the number of crimes committed by individuals because they want to commit a crime. Of course you’ll never admit that because you’re so committed to this childish utopian, black and white world where good people watch Barney, play Monopoly and drink all natural organic smoothies while all the baddies watch XXX porn, play GTA4 and smoke pot.
      “why do individuals need battlefield weaponry?”
      Oh wow you’re so full of shit. At any rate why do I need freedom of speech or freedom of (from) religion? And please don’t try to pass yourself off as an expert in battlefield weaponry. The last time handguns and semi-automatic rifles were synonymous with battlefield weaponry was in the 19th century.
      “do you use an uzi or an AK-47 (or hell, grenades and launchers) to hunt deer? for self protection?...NO”
      First off ownership of a REALY Uzi or AK requires a permit and is heavily regulated. Nice bait and switch buddy (or are you just ignorant of the issue) since we don’t have a smuggling problem in that area…Anyways a semi-auto Uzi is just a fancy looking and expensive hand gun, and no one hunts with it. As far as the AK goes, are you aware of the fact that the semi auto AK and the 7.62x39mm round is pretty close in size and capabilities to the 30-30 round? By the way the 30-30 Winchester is the most successful deer hunting round in history; of course you completely blundered into that one since you know next to knowing about firearms.
      BTW people do hunt with AK’s although in some states it’s illegal because ak’s are by definition underpowered rifles. Go figure. Here we’re talking about the those damn AK’s when there are plenty of other rifles with a lot more power that are completely legal and accepted.

    • 2 years ago
  • div
    • 0
      div  
    • div:

      "Correlation does not equal causation so to justify your entire viewpoint by a single condition is just bad form. Case in point you’ll never hear England blame Ireland for the rise in stabbings based on cheap unregulated cutlery. Yet for some reason you think its fine to base your own argument on an equally weak claim."

      If I wanted to say causation, I would have said "causes." But I didn't. I wonder what that means...?

      Cutlery is a bad example. It was not smuggled and is not in and of itself a weapon nor designed for those purposes. Guns are a weapon, no matter what purpose you use them for.

      "This is just a distraction from the real issue at hand based on the faulty logic from your last statement. You can’t base the majority, or even a significant minority, of criminal behavior on the idea that easily acquired weapons automatically equals more crime"

      Easily acquired weapons doesn't equal more crime. It equals more violent crime. What is more threatening, a man who breaks into your home with a knife or a man who breaks into your home with a gun?

      "hat’s prejudice as hell"

      WTF? ok, I know that you know what prejudice means. I can't even dignify that with a response.

      "since your country has more guns per capita than most countries."

      And yet fewer gun related deaths than the US. lookee that!

      "So basically you’re saying we need to do more to restrict the rights of free individuals to stop criminal activities because somehow criminals are nicer folks when law abiding citizens get shafted."

      Look, all I'm saying is that the US should make it harder for any asshole on the street to get a gun.

      "See and I always thought crime was largely the product of a poor upbringing, poverty, and so on and so forth. At any rate I’m pretty sure Ihatethemall blamed the ease at which weapons were smuggled on corruption and not the reason WHY they were being smuggled."

      Maybe it is (oh, btw, THAT"S prejudice: assuming that criminals are the poor). So let's help the situation by giving them guns...?

      "Yeah tell that to your buddies who like to demonize individuals because they hunt or believe in self defense. Call me crazy but American Indians use to hunt all the time, but that doesn’t mean its right to call them savages. Same argument applies to martial arts practitioners. Or is it safe to assume every Brazilian Jujitsu or Shaolin Kung Fu practitioner is a raving lunatic?"

      My buddies? Thanks, I always wanted to be popular. Now apparently I'm friends with any person who wants gun regulation.

      I won't call you crazy, but thanks for the offer. The Native peoples were not simply given weapons and told to go hunt. They were trained throughout their lives to hunt. The same goes with practitioners of martial arts. Training. Is it so much to ask that a person go through training and some kind of certification before he or she can own a gun? I'd much prefer someone trained in how to use a gun than someone who got it off the black market.

      But that's just the commie, socialist, politically correct liberal that I am. Tsk tsk me.

      "Again this is the exact same argument I hear from the radical right about rap music"

      Could you explain that? I'm not understanding the relation.

      "good people watch Barney, play Monopoly and drink all natural organic smoothies while all the baddies watch XXX porn, play GTA4 and smoke pot."

      I don't think bad people watch porn, play grandtheft auto or smoke pot. These are unrelated issues that have nothing to do with illegal weapons. So now I'd have to say: "This is just a distraction from the real issue at hand based on the faulty logic."

    • 2 years ago
  • Ricky84
    • 0
      Ricky84  
    • div:

      “If I wanted to say causation, I would have said "causes." But I didn't. I wonder what that means...?
      WTF? ok, I know that you know what prejudice means. I can't even dignify that with a response.”
      Really? I don’t know what’s worse
      A Your inability to look up the definition of causation and prejudice
      B The idea that someone would willfully declare ignorance as a way to get around a point you can’t refute
      or
      C The fact that you actually pulled the “I can't even dignify that with a response” line. Then again you might be telling the truth.
      Can someone say car ramrod?
      “Cutlery is a bad example. It was not smuggled and is not in and of itself a weapon nor designed for those purposes. Guns are a weapon, no matter what purpose you use them for.”
      Right so you’re saying the availability of weapons contributes to more crime so long as they are smuggled and only designed for the express purpose of killing. GTFO of here. That’s like saying ruffees are not a date rape drug because you don’t have to smuggle them and their not explicitly designed for raping. If an item can be used to kill or intimidate it probably will at some point in time. Case in point no one ever walked out during a viewing of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” because they were irritated by the idea of a mass murderer using a weapon not explicitly designed for killing people.
      “ Easily acquired weapons doesn't equal more crime. It equals more violent crime.”
      Source?
      “Look, all I'm saying is that the US should make it harder for any asshole on the street to get a gun.”
      I get that. My point is that ineffective policies are just that, ineffective. You should do yourself a favor a read the gun control study produced by the Nation Academy of Sciences. As of yet there is no correlation between gun control policy and lower rates of crime.
      “Maybe it is (oh, btw, THAT"S prejudice: assuming that criminals are the poor). So let's help the situation by giving them guns...?”
      Right because the scientific community does not support the assertion that poverty and lack of education can contribute to higher crime levels. Yeah you got me there. I pulled that one right out of my ass.
      “Training” Oh I get it now. Gun owners don’t train to use their guns and so that why criminals commit crimes..
      “But that's just the commie, socialist, politically correct liberal that I am.”

      And the partisan hatemongering begins. I never said anything about any of those groups. For all you know I COULD be a commie, socialist, politically correct liberal. Yet somehow you’ve come to the decision that’s its ok to typecast commie, socialist, politically correct liberal individuals as inherently anti-gun. There’s that prejudice again. Man you really need to look that word up.
      “Could you explain that? I'm not understanding the relation.”
      I would but you probably wouldn’t get it anyway. So instead of doing your homework and educating yourself you’d just bitch and complain about not knowing what the definition of “is” is.
      “I don't think bad people watch porn, play GTA or smoke pot. These are unrelated issues that have nothing to do with illegal weapons.”
      Uh-huh but bad people definitely (by your admission) take offense to communism, socialism and liberalism. So I guess that makes me a conservative from the Church of Satan since I support gun rights while remaining indifferent to porn, GTA and pot. Damn me and my dogmatic ways!

    • 2 years ago
  • Ricky84
    • 0
      Ricky84  

    • This is the same type of rabble rousing you hear from the extreme right about medical marijuana, and its bullshit plain and simple. The US is not beholden to Jamaica any more than Jamaica is beholden to the US. If Jamaica has a problem with corruption they should deal with it in their own right. The last thing anyone should do is scapegoat the issue.

    • 2 years ago
  • Ihatethemall
    • 0
      Ihatethemall  

    • My guns are NOT registered and the state I live in doesn't require me to do it.
      All guns are traceable if the numbers haven't been filed off.

    • 2 years ago
  • jh64487
    • 0
      jh64487  

    • i'm fine with you owning a gun, but you damn well better have it registered and it should be traceable should it get stolen or "lost".

      why anyone has assault weapons in america is beyond me. the term is "assault". who are you planning on assaulting? why? i understand rifles, shotguns, even handguns for self defense. but a .50 cal sniper rifle? yea i feel so much safer knowing some right wing nut is carrying one of those around. thank god they're defending me from the evil gov.

      very disturbing mentality.

      regarding Jamaica, it really has become a desperate situation there and unfortunately it's started spilling out of kingston into the surrounding communities, even into the small fishing villages. a lot of drugs are coming through and from Jamaica throwing even more fuels on the drug wars.

      we gotta change the rules or we'll lose this game.

    • 2 years ago
  • Ricky84
    • 0
      Ricky84  
    • Image
    • jh64487:

      To use the term "assault weapon" in a gun debate is accept a carefully devised piece of propaganda. To acknowledging this term as anything else reveals a lack of understanding for firearms and lends support to the anti-gun camp by framing the debate in a completely false way.

      The picture above is an assault weapon as defined by the US military. This weapon has nothing to do with the gun debate.

    • 2 years ago
  • titvol
    • 0
      titvol  
    • jh64487:

      >>a .50 cal sniper rifle? yea i feel so much safer knowing some right wing nut is carrying one of those around. thank god they're defending me from the evil gov.

    • 2 years ago
  • jh64487
    • 0
      jh64487  
    • jh64487:

      haven't we been hearing more and more about such things recently? yes...

      and we know that weapons, including automatic assault weapons are being used in both Mexico and Jamaica and various other nations I'm sure. flooding the markets with cheap merchandise, be it corn under Clinton, or guns under bush, is a common pratice of the US and has caused immense damage to a multitude of nations. do you really deny this?

      so...i'm not sure how I'm being an idealogue.

      to put it bluntly...i don't agree with civilians owning weapons designed specifically for the battlefield. what battlefield are they planning on being on?

    • 2 years ago
  • jh64487
    • 0
      jh64487  
    • jh64487:

      haven't we been hearing more and more about such things recently? yes...

      and we know that weapons, including automatic assault weapons are being used in both Mexico and Jamaica and various other nations I'm sure. flooding the markets with cheap merchandise, be it corn under Clinton, or guns under bush, is a common pratice of the US and has caused immense damage to a multitude of nations. do you really deny this?

      so...i'm not sure how I'm being an idealogue.

      to put it bluntly...i don't agree with civilians owning weapons designed specifically for the battlefield. what battlefield are they planning on being on?

    • 2 years ago
  • Ricky84
    • 0
      Ricky84  
    • jh64487:

      Oh my god you’re so full of shit JH. No one is smuggling fully automatic assault rifles to Mexico or Jamaica. Again it’s illegal as hell to own a full-auto assault rifle in the US let alone purchase one. The only people in the US who have access to those firearms in bulk is the US military.

    • 2 years ago
  • Ihatethemall
    • 0
      Ihatethemall  

    • You will use any arguement to take away Americans rights to guns won't you?
      I guess you learn from your leaders, never let a crisis go to waste.

    • 2 years ago
  • unimatrix0
    • 0
      unimatrix0  

    • The untold story behind the lack of gun control is all the big business, corporate interest in loose gun laws which translates into more sales, more dollars.

      Follow the money. All that money is funding the NRA, etc. - making the gun nuts legitimate.

    • 2 years ago
  • titvol
  • unimatrix0
  • Ricky84
    • 0
      Ricky84  
    • unimatrix0:

      *yawn* Yes and plenty of questionable individuals have given contributions to the ACLU but that doesn't negate the fact that the ACLU still fights to protect the rights of all Americans.

    • 2 years ago
  • corndog67
    • 0
      corndog67  

    • So, just like in Mexico, once again it's our fault. How about some country that is having some problems, take the blame for corrupt cops, corrupt politicians, and a corruption based society instead of blaming the US, and wanting money from us for, oh I don't know, drug interdiction or some other happy horseshit.

    • 2 years ago
  • Prijedor
    • 0
      Prijedor  
    • corndog67:

      I dont think anyone is saying its our fault, we are not the ones pulling the trigger, people kill people, not guns, but just saying that the guns come from us, so maybe we need to start regulating more who gets them

    • 2 years ago
  • Ihatethemall
    • 0
      Ihatethemall  
    • corndog67:

      BZZZZZZ WRONG ANSWER. We don't need to add any more bullshit, do nothing, fuck Americans, gun laws.
      The article points out clearly that there is corruption in Jamaicas customs. How are more laws in America going to stop the corruption in Jamaica? THEY WON'T. Let Jamaica clean up it's own customs officers. If they don't get them here, they will get them somewhere. and all the laws in the world isn't going to stop them until they clean up their own back yard.

    • 2 years ago
  • Ihatethemall
    • 0
      Ihatethemall  

    • Maybe it's the drug trade that's actually fueling the gang wars. Maybe instead of putting more bullshit laws on Americans we should get rid of some of the bullshit laws that are fucking Americans and fueling gang wars.

    • 2 years ago
  • Prijedor
  • Prijedor
    • 0
      Prijedor  
    • Prijedor:

      The wars range from ones like country vs another country, civil wars, gang wars, drug wars...

      Let me start listing some... if I miss any, please be free to add on.

    • 2 years ago
  • Prijedor
    • 0
      Prijedor  
    • Prijedor:

      -Taliban to fight Russians
      -Bosnia to defend against Serbia
      -Crips & Bloods to kill each other over stupidity
      -any other gangs
      -Israel to murder Palestinians so they can take land and make more room for more jews to migrate
      -Israel to defend them selves against terrorists
      -Proxies carrying out bombings in Iran
      -Mexican drug cartels vs anyone that stands in their way
      -Sir L. against Tamil Tigers

      no more time, I g2g, but any past/present conflict i missed add it

    • 2 years ago
  • Apocalipstick
  • Apocalipstick
  • evoleon
    • 0
      evoleon  

    • Guns will always be available to the criminals. An ak47 costs about $8.00 to manufacture. There are ships on the ocean with all of the machinery to produce these guns, pumping out arms in international waters. Then shipping them to these nations. What’s really funny is how many people seem to think that by banning something it will go away. Look at the failed war on drugs. More regulation will just lead to a black market industry where the gangs produce the drugs and the guns.

      Bullets are just as easy to produce with swaging machines, and the powders that fill them can be cooked up using chemicals widely available to the public. It you can make meth, you can make smokeless powder.

    • 2 years ago
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