Haiti: US guns pour into Port-au-Prince, fuelling surge in violence
Haiti: US guns pour into Port-au-Prince, fuelling surge in violence
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.
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which export location is actually exporting AK47s?
The same one exporting Belt Fed Machine Guns. Half of the stuff covered in the article can't be bought in the United States so I'd really REALLY like to know where in the hell its coming from.
Starts with a R and rhymes with Ussia.
That's certainly possible but I'd bet that the regular ol' Arms Dealers, think Lord of War, are the ones behind it.
To be fair 9mm Pistols and AR pattern rifles could absolutely be sourced in the US and shipped to Haiti so I'm perfectly willing to believe that part of it, but this other stuff? No way.
I love the accidental admission that you only want to know where it's coming from because it can't be bought in America, implying you wouldn't like to know otherwise.
Accross the continent, a huge number of guns recovered in crimes can be traced back to a gun store in America. It's an incredibly low risk way to source firearms, especially compared to things like "robbing the military".
But just because a domestic abuser with a room temperature IQ can't buy one at his local Walmart doesn't mean they're not American guns. The "profits first, people never" mentality of arms manufacturers and their pet politicians has resulted in billions of dollars of weapons in the hands of militant groups.
Of course if you genuinely wanted to know, there's multiple reports on exactly that topic. Be sure to tell us what you learn from them, so we know you're not just defending Americas gun laws by muddying the waters.
I think they "really wanted to know where they're coming from" because the explanation from the article didn't seem plausible.
I think they “really wanted to know where they’re coming from” because the explanation from the article didn’t seem plausible.
That's exactly it. The only fully automatic firearms available for purchase in the United States are going to be used, very expensive, closely tracked by the Federal Government, with very limited quantities available. The idea that these kinds of firearms are being sourced in the US is unbelievable.
Semi-Auto firearms I can believe, although its still wildly illegal, but not the full auto stuff. There's just no way.
Accross the continent, a huge number of guns recovered in crimes can be traced back to a gun store in America.
Not fully automatic firearms. The very few for sale in the United States are old, expensive, Federally tracked, and not available in any real quantity.
I love the accidental admission that you only want to know where it’s coming from because it can’t be bought in America...
Yes, because the explanation being given by the article doesn't match with the reality of firearms in the U.S.
For instance that firearm in the first picture of the original article simply isn't for sale at any shop in the United States. The only way you are buying it is with a special permit from the US Federal Government itself, the permit is only given to specific military and possibly some police organizations. The permit will only allow the purchase of a pre specified number of an exact model of firearm, and that purchase will be tracked (by serial number) from the time of manufacture through the sale process and delivery to the permitted organization.
Once all that's done the permitted organization cannot legally sell them, let alone export them, without a whole 'nother pile of paperwork that requires Federal approval.
Be sure to tell us what you learn from them, so we know you’re not just defending Americas gun laws by muddying the waters.
I read the article you posted at the beginning of March. In fact I've probably read the majority of the articles, and the studies underpinning them, on this subject for at least twenty years. I even read the U.N. Report linked in the original article. Did you?
The truth is that simple semi-auto weapons like AR pattern rifles and Glocks can be bought here, sure, but a dozen different Federal Laws are being broken in order to get them to the gangs in Haiti. I'm sure it's happening anyway and I'm not arguing about that.
What I'm saying is that is that the claims of full auto weapons coming from the US are extraordinary and need far more proof than just an AP News article.
I guess it's the magic gun fairy then, manifesting American-made guns out of thin air and leaving them under the pillows of gang members the world over.
Heh, good catch.
There actually was a Kalashnikov factory in the US producing Real Authentic Kalashnikov AK-47s. Was one of the very early victims of sanctions over Ukraine.
googles
Looks like they still exist. I think that it was partly owned by someone who was sanctioned, so maybe they divested.
looks further
Kalashnikov Firearms
Russian Heritage. American Innovation.
Man, this was not a good decade for that particular ad campaign.
I don't see AK-47s on the site, so maybe they only do other firearms.
googles
Ah, apparently the synthetic-stock thing, the KR-103, counts and was probably what they were selling.
https://www.pewpewtactical.com/kalashnikov-usa-kr-103-review/
It looks like they got whacked back after the invasion of Crimea, so some time back.
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jl2572
According to the above Pew Pew Tactical article, it looks like those Crimea-invasion sanctions were what started the US-based factory -- they set up domestic production in the US to provide their US sales, since they couldn't import from Russia any more.
The American company, Kalashnikov USA, was initially an importer of Russian-made firearms until the US government banned importation.
Using their familiarity and know-how, the importers became manufacturers, creating their own firearms based on Russian specifications.
I guess that strictly-speaking, the term should still be "AK-pattern", Kalashnikov or not. Says that it's based on the AK-103, which is really a descendant of the AK-47.
AK47s were only really produced for about 10 years, the vast majority are AKMs and derivatives.