Congressman Goldman Announces the Government Accountability Office’s Report on ATF Traced Caribbean Firearms Originating in the U.S.

Dan announced the release of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that found 73% of Caribbean firearms recovered and traced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) between 2018-2022 can be traced back to the United States. This report follows Congressman Goldman, Senator Durbin, Congressman Meeks, and Congressman Castro’s request for GAO to study the role that American-made firearms play in Caribbean nations’ gun violence crises.

In the process of compiling the report, ATF traced 7,399 firearms recovered in crimes in the Caribbean from 2018 to 2022. A GAO analysis of those traces showed that 73 percent of recovered firearms, most of which were handguns, originated in the United States. Available data showed that 71,569 firearms were legally exported from the U.S. to 22 of the 26 Caribbean countries between January 2018 and December 2023.