Local - 28 July 2010, 11:23 AM

Gun importers say ban spurs smuggling

SANTO DOMINGO. – The smuggling of weapons of all calibers has risen as the result of their import ban and also prompts citizens to buy guns illegally to protect against the latest nationwide crime spree.

The Weapons Importers Association made the denunciation on Wednesday and cited Tuesday’s arrest of four Customs officials in Santiago on conspiracy to smuggle guns and other charges.

The organization which imports guns blames the rise in smuggling the four year old gun import ban promoted by the Interior and Police Ministry. “The citizens who feel threatened by the country’s current crime wave decide to buy these guns of illegal origin to protect themselves and theirs, but don’t have another option via the legal route. Citizens often visit gun shops looking to buy a sidearm, but faced with that impossibility they must import them though the black market.”

“Smuggling is now a very lucrative business, since they have an open market and the price of a legal gun – which only change hands from the original owner to another- is excessively high from the short supply and low inventories in authorized stores,” the gun importers said in a statement.

http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/loc...purs-smuggling

Steve