The Bahamas

Author: Jennifer Bethel, Director of Research and Development Section, Ministry of National Security

The Government of The Bahamas understands that safety and security undergirds the nation’s socio-economic development. The Government is keenly aware that regional security is a concern that involves threats to both the safety and stability of the Caribbean.

Despite not manufacturing firearms and ammunition, the widespread use and prevalence of illicit firearms use in The Bahamas remains unabated. Contributing factors include the illicit trafficking of firearms and ammunition sourced from supply chains in the United States. The sheer volume of the licit transfer of commodities via air and sea using well-established trade routes are leveraged by traffickers using various concealment techniques. In addition, The Bahamas’ close proximity to the United States and its porous borders are both promoting factors that appeal to illicit trafficking enterprises.

Consequently, the pervasiveness of gun violence extends throughout the Caribbean Community and has festered grave concerns nationally and regionally. The Bahamas, recognising the shared regional problem of firearms and ammunition, pledged a political commitment to combat the same. Consistent with regional counterparts, a National Action Plan (NAP) undergirded with the Caribbean Firearms Roadmap (CFRM) serves to counter the challenges associated with firearms trafficking and gun violence.

Challenges while developing The Bahamas’ NAP emerged as the CFRM Committee began to dialogue and distill the multifaceted layers associated with this topic. There were many silo entities attempting to address this menacing problem, thereby resulting in duplicated efforts and inefficient record keeping. Equally as challenging, was identifying and educating points of contact on this initiative. Naturally, the road blocks slowed the development of the NAP, but it also enriched the experience.

The CFRM allowed for a custom-built approach and The Bahamas embraced it. The government was fully committed and understood the importance of coordinating multilateral approaches to develop a feasible plan. Beyond addressing the problem from law enforcement, The Bahamas included diverse sectors of society - social services, neighbourhood watch groups, corrections, immigration, and civil society. The ultimate goal was to align our nation’s crime-fighting strategies with the whole-of-government and whole-of-society to forge new and strengthened partnerships and cooperation to enhance our safety efforts.

The Bahamas’ success lies and will continue to lie in its human capital. The CFRM Committee consisted of persons that understood the problem, were committed to changing the gun violence landscape, were willing to share and learn from each other, were willing to make sacrifices and gave freely of their time, talent and treasures.

The CFRM Committee understood that the development of the NAP was only the beginning and committed to continue the good work. A core group of dedicated nationalists willing to use their talents in a coordinated manner, seek guidance and assistance at home and abroad, and address the firearms and ammunition challenges within an honest context relative to their country yielded great results. Most importantly, for The Bahamas, we did it our way!

The Bahamas’ next steps will be to form sub-committees with the armourers, trainers and data collectors, to name a few. Simultaneously, the Committee will conduct sensitisation training with all major stakeholders including the judiciary and firearms dealers. It is believed that this will greatly impact the operational levels and fill in the gaps that previously existed.

Currently, The Bahamas is assessing its new Firearms Bill to ensure that it can adequately impose penalties and address future trends in firearms and ammunition trafficking. We are also engaging and including other international responses to firearms including UN Programme of Action (PoA), International Tracing Instrument (ITI), Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), and Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacture of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials (CIFTA).

The Bahamas is grateful to UNLIREC and strongly believes that the CFRM is timely, pivotal and will have far reaching implications beyond our borders, thereby shaping the future of our cooperative efforts in combating illicit firearms and ammunition in the Caribbean Community.