New Situation Update on trends in firearms trafficking in the Caribbean and Latin America

Newly acquired data on firearms seizures at US ports of exit shows that trafficking dynamics vary significantly between the Caribbean and Latin America, and even within these regions. These differences include the number of seizures, the types of seized weapons, the illegal shipments’ modes of transport, and the seizure locations. Some of these differences are consistent with previous studies, while others are surprising.

Trends in Trafficking: Comparing US-based Firearms Trafficking to the Caribbean and Latin America—a new Situation Update published as part of the Pathway to Policy: Integrating Security and Public Health Responses to Firearms Trafficking and Violence in the Caribbean project—provides an initial analysis of newly acquired US government data on seizures of outbound firearms shipments at US ports. The update analyses the types, transport modes, and seizure locations of illicit firearms shipments from the United States to the Caribbean and Latin America, and highlights key differences in trafficking dynamics between the latter two regions.

Read: Trends in Trafficking: Comparing US-based Firearms Trafficking to the Caribbean and Latin America

For more, check out:

• Dangerous Devices: Privately Made Firearms in the Caribbean (June 2024)—a joint Situation Update from the Small Arms Survey and its partners CARICOM IMPACS, CARPHA, and GA-CDRC at the University of the West Indies that examines the latest trends and developments regarding PMFs and their production and circulation in the Caribbean region
• Weapons Compass: The Caribbean Firearms Study (April 2023)—a joint report from the Small Arms Survey and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) that examines firearm holdings, illicit arms and ammunition, trafficking patterns and methods, and the socio-economic costs of firearm-related violence in the region
• Tackling Armed Domestic Violence in the Caribbean and Central America (March 2023)—a blog post that analyses domestic violence and firearms legislation of countries in these regions 
• The Small Arms Survey’s Pathway to Policy in Caribbean project page
• Caribbean outputs in our Resource Library

Other news from the Survey:

• New Briefing Paper on improving point of injury trauma care for IED victims
• Nouvelle note d’information SANA sur les armes à feu artisanales en Guinée
• New SANA Briefing Paper on the global struggle to halve violent deaths by 2030
• New Situation Update on the dynamics of firearms possession in Ukraine
• New Survey Report on the Arms Trade Treaty in the Indo-Pacific region
• New Small Arms Survey Annual Report 2023