Retiring Guy's Digest: Where do Haitian gangs get their guns? From the United States, of course.

Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Where do Haitian gangs get their guns? From the United States, of course.

Headline: New York Times, 3/30/2025

David C. Adams and Frances Robles report:

Experts estimate that there are about 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.

Their superior fire power has overwhelmed the thin ranks of Haiti’s ill-equipped police and contributed to an astonishing death toll last year of more than 5,600 homicide victims, a jump of more than 1,000 from the year before.

The United Nations imposed an arms embargo on Haiti three years ago, yet most weapons on Haiti’s streets are from the United States, where they are purchased by straw buyers and smuggled into the country by sea or sometimes by land through the Dominican Republic, according to the United Nations. [emphasis added]

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