New Report on firearm-related violence and trafficking in the Caribbean
The Caribbean region continues to suffer from high levels of firearm-related violence, with worrying developments that include the recruitment of children and adolescents into armed gangs, shootings in hospitals, and a surge in gang violence. Most of the weapons seized from perpetrators of these and other crimes are handguns, but recent data reveals a rise in trafficking of AR- and AK-pattern rifles and large-capacity magazines to some Caribbean countries. The impacts of gun violence on national health systems are substantial, diverting already scarce resources from violence prevention, education, and development.
Pathway to Policy: Firearms Trafficking and Public Health in the Caribbean—a new Report by the Caribbean Community Implementation Agency for Crime and Security, the Caribbean Public Health Agency, the George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre at the University of the West Indies, and the Small Arms Survey published as part of a joint project—updates and expands on the data collected for the previous Caribbean Firearms Study and sets out policy observations to address firearms trafficking and violence as a public health issue.
Read: Pathway to Policy: Firearms Trafficking and Public Health in the Caribbean
For more, check out:
- Firearm-related violence in the Caribbean is a complex systemic issue: how do we move towards a solution? (October 2025)—an article that discusses the work carried out by the project’s Advisory Committee of Regional Experts, a multisectoral group convened to develop a ‘pathway to policy’ that informs a regional approach to tackling firearm violence.
- The Bullet Trail: A Year of Ammunition Seizures in the Caribbean and What They Mean for Public Health (June 2025)—a blog post that analyses 12 months of ammunition seizures in the Caribbean.
- Trends in Trafficking: Comparing US-based Firearms Trafficking to the Caribbean and Latin America (November 2024)—a Situation Update that provides an initial analysis of newly acquired US government data on seizures of outbound firearms shipments at US ports.
- Dangerous Devices: Privately Made Firearms in the Caribbean (June 2024)—a Situation Update 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 Implementation Agency for Crime and Security that examines firearm holdings, illicit arms and ammunition, trafficking patterns and methods, and the socio-economic costs of firearm-related violence in the region.
- The Small Arms Survey’s Pathway to Policy in Caribbean project page
- Caribbean outputs in our Resource Library
Other news from the Survey: