Presidents Ruto, Biden need to have a conversation about Haiti and gun violence

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The bullet that nearly killed former President Donald Trump was fired from an AR-15-type semi-automatic rifle. Light to carry and easy to use, the weapon is extremely lethal, its projectiles entering the body, twisting and tumbling, causing horrific damage.

More than a million AR-15’s have been sold to citizens in the U.S., some of them illegally trafficked to countries in the hemisphere including Haiti, where a contingent of brave Kenyan police officers now faces criminal gangs who’ve turned the capital Port au Prince into a war zone. Among the gangs’ weapons of choice?

The AR-15. The Ruto government should have a candid conversation with the Biden administration about tightening U.S. gun laws.

Why should Kenya put its young men and women peacekeepers in harm’s way when the U.S. is not doing more to protect them and the innocent citizens of Haiti? It’s like inviting good friends to a pool party and apologising for filling the pool with crocodiles.

The problem is global

The problem of too many illegal guns goes well beyond Haiti. It is a global problem and it’s getting worse. Criminal gangs and terrorists seek these weapons to create havoc in other countries.

Kenya’s geographic position and status as a democracy and ally of the U.S. and European Union make it a tempting target for bad actors wielding made-in-America weapons.

Drug cartels are active globally, their power amplified by their access to weapons which meet or exceed the deadliness of weapons possessed by local law enforcement.

There is an urgent need for Kenya and the U.S. to cooperate more closely on ways to interdict the flow of illegal weapons across the borders of East Africa. This can be done by better coordinating the work of law enforcement agencies and improving training and intelligence sharing.

Most Kenyans may not know that military-grade rifles were once banned by the U.S. Congress from 1994-2004.

Foolishly, some members included a provision that lifted the ban after ten years. Sales soared especially during Covid when many Americans felt isolated and fearful, spurred on by the gun industry which promotes the illusion that guns make men feel more secure and powerful when the opposite is true.

Ironically, Trump’s rhetoric is full of violent imagery and references to American carnage. His Supreme Court picks have strengthened gun rights with added protections for companies and people that manufacture and sell the now more the 450 million weapons owned by American citizens.

Now former President Trump is a victim of gun violence, nearly shot in the head during the same week that the states of Texas and Alabama approved selling guns and ammunition in vending machines. “How about a Saturday Night Special pistol and some ammo with that energy drink?” Of course, this is madness.

Reimposing the ban on the production of assault rifles should be priority one. Biden has pushed for new legislation, but the divided Congress has baulked.

Kenya, Mexico, Canada and other countries affected by gun trafficking from the U.S. should make it clear this is one export that must be stopped.

The U.S. government will pay attention when friends and allies like those in Kenya say they’ve had enough. This is not a domestic problem. It is an international problem with related costs such as forced immigration, illegal drug flows and human trafficking.

A new ban will eliminate weapons from the illicit supply chain, saving the lives of Kenyan and other peacekeepers in Haiti.

The right not to be shot

Americans are grateful to Kenya for its contribution to the protection of human rights in Haiti. Many Americans will appreciate Kenya’s support for stopping gun trafficking in Haiti and elsewhere and are happy to cede the moral high ground when it comes to common sense and protection of the basic human right not to be shot.

More needs to be done. The U.S. government needs to strengthen port security to prevent weapons from transiting to ports in Haiti, Mexico and elsewhere.

Enforcement of existing gun laws on background checks needs to be strengthened, while prosecuting gun store owners who sell weapons, often in suspiciously large quantities to “straw buyers” or people who buy guns on behalf of others who then sell them to people associated with criminal gangs.

A number of Haitians living in the U.S. have been convicted of trafficking guns to their former homeland. More need to be brought to justice along with others complicit in this bad business.

These efforts alone will not eliminate crime guns from the market. Also involved in the fight is holding gun manufacturers and sellers legally responsible for the harm their products cause.

Thanks to a friendly Congress and judiciary, the industry is largely immunized from civil lawsuits involving product liability, arguing it’s not their fault that people use their product to kill and injure others. But a lawsuit brought by the government of Mexico against members of the gun industry on behalf of Mexican gun violence victims may crack the shield of invincibility.

The Mexican argument is that the industry knows the harm its products cause, has refused to make reasonable changes in gun design to make them more secure, and whose advertisements deliberately target potential buyers in problematic demographic groups who fetishize power and self-defense in what to them has become a violent and dangerous world.

One case has been approved by a federal appeals court for trial, and it will be interesting to discover what gun industry leaders have been saying privately about what they’ve done, if anything, to balance profits with public safety.

The non-profit advocacy group Global Action on Gun Violence is a civil society organization in the U.S. that is helping Mexico and other governments in the region provide external pressure on the U.S. government to do the right thing.

Faced with large court judgments, the industry may finally change course, saving many lives and improving U.S. diplomatic relations with its neighbours and friends.

Kenya is not likely to go to court to reduce the flow of illegal weapons. But there is much that it can do with its friends in the U.S. to protect its police officers , promote the human right not to be shot , and to bring peace and dignity to the long-suffering Haitian people.

Doug Barry is a visiting professor at USIU-Africa and Senior Advisor to Global Action on Gun Violence

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