“Haiti Doesn’t Make Guns,” The New York Times reported Sunday. “So How Are Gangs Awash in Them?”
Who wants to guess where they’re going with this?
“Critics say not enough is done to regulate the sale of weapons in the United States to straw buyers, an illegal practice in which people buy guns on behalf of another person, including traffickers,” the report dutifully claims. “The practice is responsible for a large number of the arms that wind up used in crimes in Mexico and throughout Latin America.”
Anybody else getting a “This is how Operation Fast and Furious ‘gunwalking’ started” vibe? Because it is. The parroted narrative was that “Lax American gun laws” were responsible for Mexican cartel carnage. Lather, rinse, repeat.
“That’s where you can stop this,” The Times article quotes Jonathan Lowy, founder of Global Action on Gun Violence. He’s the former Chief Counsel and VP Legal for Brady, whose group operates at the same address as the Violence Policy Center, and who has been behind efforts like Mexico suing U.S. gun makers and a lawsuit filed in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights arguing “that Inter-American human rights law requires the United States to prevent firearms manufacturers, distributors, and dealers from recklessly making and selling guns in ways that cause deaths and injuries.”
“If you stop the flow of guns and bullets, the gangs eventually, literally, run out of ammunition,” the story quotes William O’Neil, “the UN Independent Expert on the Human Rights Situation in Haiti.”
So, The Times go-to guys on what the public will be told about this are career globalist gun-grabbers. Figures. God forbid they should cite anyone who doesn’t share their goals or at least file this story under “editorial.”
We learn there are “20 armed groups operating in Port-au-Prince, some who carry AR-15 and Galil assault rifles, shotguns and Glock handguns. The United Nations estimates that between 270,000 and 500,000 firearms are circulating illegally in Haiti, with most weapons in the hands of gangs.”
And homicides are rising (how many of the victims are violent criminals themselves is left unreported).
That they’re violating Haiti’s strict gun laws, and that criminals don’t obey laws, don’t seem to factor into the equation here.
But go ahead and stipulate “straw purchases” take place and smuggling occurs. What kind of numbers are we talking about here?
In January, Dominican customs authorities scored “37 guns.” In February, they seized “nearly two dozen firearms.” That’s the way of prohibition. Make something of value illegal, and people will find ways to profit from it, violently if that’s the only way.
Which people?
“Gangs sometimes acquire guns and ammunition by attacking police stations in Haiti or by bribing local police officers into providing weapons,” the report concedes. “Nearly 1,000 police guns were diverted in the past four years, the U.N. said last week, and police officers have been reported to sell them on the black market.”
“In November, Dominican authorities arrested several Dominican police officers accused of smuggling nearly one million rounds of ammunition from a police depot,” the report adds.
“Last month, a 31-year-old police officer in St. Cloud, Fla., pleaded guilty to purchasing and reselling at least 58 firearms,” the report continues.
“A former security officer for Haiti’s chief of police was arrested in Florida in December after investigators linked him to nearly 90 firearms,” the report goes on.
Are we staring to see a pattern here? They really are following the same playbook as Mexico, aren’t they?
“Conviction of Top Mexican Cop Shows Corruption Problem, Not U.S. Guns”
That and an illegal alien from Guatemala, who would have never even been in the U.S. save for Democrat open borders policies, “recruited straw purchasers to illegally buy 900 firearms — including assault rifles — that he then transported from Florida to the Dominican Republic and Haiti.”
So, the answer from the gun-grabbers, naturally, is more “gun control” over you and me. And a quick scan of the Google “News” feed shows the media is doing a full-court press to drive that point home.
Also See: ‘Commonsense Gun Safety Law Paradise’ Haiti Continues Descent into Hell
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
