U.S. Congress Moves to Stem Flow of Guns to Caribbean with CATCH Act

As Governor Albert Bryan Jr. visits two Eastern Caribbean countries this week, Congress announced a bill to curb one of the Caribbean community’s most vexing foreign relations issues – the influx of American guns into the region.

House Representatives Joaquin Castro and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, alongside Senators Chris Murphy and Tim Kaine, have introduced the Caribbean Arms Trafficking Causes Harm (CATCH) Act, which aims to curb the trafficking of arms from the U.S. to the Caribbean.

Castro said that the draft legislation builds on the success of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which focused on cracking down on straw purchases and domestic trafficking offenses. Now, “the CATCH Act will improve transparency and accountability within U.S. anti-trafficking efforts and prevent U.S. firearms from fueling gun violence in the Caribbean — especially in Haiti, where guns from the United States have played a tragic role in the ongoing security, political, and humanitarian crisis.”

Murphy conceded what Caribbean leaders have long maintained, that “the prevalence of illegal guns trafficked from the United States into the region is fueling this violence.”