Browne defends joining Mexico's anti-gun lobby

Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne said while guns from countries other than the US end up on TT's shores, joining Mexico's anti-gun lobby against the US was still "a step in the right direction."

On March 9, the Prime Minister announced that TT was considering joining Mexico in taking legal action against US gun manufacturers for firearm-related offences in their respective countries.

Dr Rowley later revealed that TT is in an appeal over the failed lawsuit involving gun manufacturers in the US is solely through diplomatic channels, so there was no attached cost.

"As a sovereign nation, we are making our voices heard. And we are standing alongside another sovereign nation that is having the same problem we have. And it is to our benefit that Mexico is doing this, because we all have the same problem.

"I don’t know if in the future we will be required to make contributions but, at this time, we are not required to.”

But responding to questions from the media on Thursday afternoon at his ministry's head office, Browne said the rationale behind the decision was "not based on any particular statistic."

He said although there were "handguns and arms in our country that may have been made in various parts of the world, that does not deter us from taking the action that we have taken."

He said anyone who tries to suggest that guns manufactured in the US were not part of the local crime situation would be "hard-pressed to make a case."

He said the decision was not "based on the statistics of where the glock may have come from, but based on a pressing regional concern."