"Gun violence" victim or police assassination? (courtesy thevoiceslu.com)

The Caribbean island of St. Lucia is “shall issue.” Except, of course, they don’t. Under the sovereign nation’s Firearms Act, the government can deny gun rights to anyone “who for any reason is considered unfit to be entrusted with a firearm or ammunition.” When it comes to issuing firearms licenses, St. Lucia’s Commissioner of Police and the Minister of Security calls the shots. And plants guns on criminals. And keeps “death lists” of people they want to remove from the face of the earth, extra-legally. That little heads-up comes via the Prime Minister himself . . .

In a national address late Sunday [reported by foxnews.com], Prime Minister Kenny Anthony said a team of Jamaican investigators have delivered an “extremely damning” report looking at the deaths of 12 people fatally shot by police in 2010 and 2011, while another administration was in power. The investigators from the Jamaica Constabulary Force were invited by St. Lucia’s government a year after the U.S. withdrew all assistance to island police citing concerns about allegations of unlawful killings.

Quoting from the report, which was not made public, Anthony said investigators found that all the shootings reviewed were “staged by the police” but reported publicly as homicides by unknown assailants. Guns were allegedly planted by officers and members of the police high command may have been involved in covering up the truth about the long-rumored extrajudicial shootings.

“The report confirms that `the blacklist or death lists’ referenced by the media, human rights organizations, victims’ families and citizens alike did exist,”  Anthony said.

Did? Or do? Either way, it’s not that surprising, is it (except for the part about the U.S. withdrawing financial aid)? I tell you what would surprise me: if any of the 31 recommendations mentioned in the Jamaican investigators’ final report involved restoring St. Lucians’ gun rights. And yet how better to protect the populace from policemen who consider themselves a law unto themselves? The PM sees things differently.

Anthony said he will not order that suspected police officers behind the alleged unlawful killings “be charged or dismissed or offered packages to retire.” But he said the government will now ensure that police recruits receive training in human rights and special prosecutors will be appointed to assist with any future prosecutions of officers, among other changes.

We need only look at places where gun rights don’t exist to know that the right to keep and bear arms is the foundation of any peaceful, civilized society; where individual rights are respected by their governments. Yes, that even applies to Western Europe, as their people are beginning to learn. [h/t John in Ohio]

23 COMMENTS

  1. Did I read that right? He is not going to do anything at all in the way of criminal or even employment sanctions to the cops who did all this? But he’s going to have the cops “trained” in “human rights”? Like they didn’t know before what they were doing is wrong, but once someone tells them all will be well? The mind boggles.

    • Politicians love training and committees to study a problem. It enables them to say that they are doing something. The fact that do not actually accomplish anything is neither here nor there.

    • He would probably end up on one of those death lists if he did anything. The police there is also essentially their military so they are the only ones that have guns. There is nobody to stop them from just doing what they want.

  2. Anthony said he will not order that suspected police officers behind the alleged unlawful killings “be charged or dismissed or offered packages to retire.”

    The St. Lucia police must have the same union as the police here in the good ol’ USA. Well, maybe not. Here the cops also get two weeks off with pay when they cap someone.

  3. It’s all Bush’s fault!!!!!!!!!

    So how again are they different than US cops? Maybe they can call Mexico and get some help.

  4. So they’ve got a culture of corruption and lawlessness permeating the law enforcement community.

    Solution: Bring in some new recruits to learn from the old hands, pay lip service and spend a little ‘brag’ time talking about human rights abuses, and hang a few sacraficial lambs who haven’t been faithfully going along with the program.

    Then, call it a day.

    Seen it all before. If the basic culture and political apparatus is corrupt, guess what!

  5. I love that island, spent a lot of time there at my grandparent’s house. The questionable/ restrictive gun laws of former colonies(british and or french) don’t motivate me to live there.

  6. I have no interest in visiting, and much less in living there.

    You can bitch and moan about the state of 2A rights in the US, and I admit that it’s not perfect, but it’s getting better.

    Our rights are worth protecting. So keep it rolling!

    “One nice thing about the Third World, you don’t have to fasten your seat belt. (Or stop smoking. Or cut down on saturated fats.) It takes a lot off your mind when average life expectancy is forty-five minutes.” — P.J. O’Rourke

    • When it comes to rights across the board, we’re losing ground. Liberty in this nation will soon be a foggy memory and we will be able to thank, in part, those who foolishly believed that eating elephants one bite at a time will yield positive results. It’s akin to trying to bail out the Titanic with Dixie cups. Big, huge, gigantic, choking gulps are required to eat the elephants of tyranny now. Even then, it might not be enough.

  7. This is why I left the Bahamas.

    But, I’ll be honest, most if not all the Caribbean is just like this.

  8. You know something is seriously fucked up when the Jamaican police are saying the cops are too corrupt.

  9. And some wonder why the whole world sneaks into the USA…Most of this country is a pretty good place to live -still.

  10. A leftist’s dream utopia. Disarmed populace, unopposed government authority, a tyrannical playground to act out their violent, sociopathic power fantasies.

  11. The thugs killed during these raids were not innocent ppeople. Where were the human rights of those they killed with no mercy . The people they terrorized on a daily basis? The US wants to talk about human rights but go after terrorists . Well these punks were terrorists . The police were not right but they are human like any other cop in this world . How many US cops get away with this same behavior? Please ! Just because the country us smaller doesn’t mean it’s worse . There is corruption in EVERY part of the world .

  12. but as if this young man in the pic was killed by someone who was not an officer -_- along with alot of those they claim to have been killed by police i waiting to see these individuals going to make reports and wanting officers to come like super heros in their time of need after they do their march and all they will look like asses

  13. The 2nd amendment hasn’t exactly stopped murderous and corrupt cops here at home, Robert.

  14. Hey, all of you casting judgement on Lil Ole St Lucia, why don’t you mind your own business in the USA. These men were all killers who regularly terrorised the citizens and challenged the police. They were killed by their own but some people want to blame police. Whereas in the “great” USA innocent men get choked to death for selling cigarettes on the side walk. The USA is the last to preach on corrupt law enforcement. Your police kill people of certain race and economic status with impunity. 1000s every year. So St Lucian police “allegedly” killed 12 criminals over 2 years, big deal! Your country goes to foreign nations and kill democratically elected leaders and label them as “terrorists” or “war criminals” which destablizes the entire country. Some of you have never stepped in St Lucia. Bahamas is not St Lucia. We are not all the same bunch of “niggers” . So which government is more corrupt? The one that has to declare war ovrrseas every new elected President or one that is being victimised because we dropped our murder rate by showing our criminals we do not fear them. PS. The average St Lucia does not want a gun in their home. We do not adhere to the gun culture of the USA. We do not need you imposing more of your culture on us. Our murder rate is a lot lower because most of us say no to guns.

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