US embassy cable - 05KINGSTON1255

UNCLAS KINGSTON 001255 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAR (WBENT), PM/DTCC BLUE LANTERN COORDINATOR 
 
E.O. 12958:  NA 
TAGS: ETTC, KOMC, JM 
SUBJECT:  BLUE LANTERN APPLICATION 05-946041 
 
REF: STATE 062395 
 
1. (U) Econoff spoke with Michael Crichton, president of 
Crichton Brothers, Inc. on May 9.  Paragraphs 2-8 (below) 
respond to questions asked in Reftel, Paragraph 3. 
 
2. (U) The company's typical customers for these weapons are 
businessmen, farmers, and quite a few policemen who are 
purchasing their own off-duty firearms.  The weapons are 
used for personal protection.  By law, there is no pistol 
sport-shooting allowed in Jamaica. 
 
3. (U) Their customers are located throughout the island. 
They are the only licensed dealers in Montego Bay, and their 
core business model focuses on servicing the markets in the 
cities of Mandeville, Negril, Brown's Town and Falmouth, as 
well as the parishes of Trelawny, Hanover, Manchester and 
Saint Ann. 
 
4. (U) The company does have an established, legitimate 
customer base for its pistols and ammunition.  They sell to 
anyone who comes in with a permit to purchase issued by the 
police.  They have been in business since 1935, and are the 
oldest arms dealer on the island.  Until recently, they have 
been piggybacking on Ernest Hoo's (Arms & Ammo) import 
license, placing orders through him and reselling the 
weapons.  Due to this arrangement, Crichton Brothers let 
their import license lapse in the 1980s. 
 
5. (U) According to Michael Crichton, sales records are 
retained forever.  The company records the date, name of the 
customer, address on the license, the make of the gun, the 
rounds of ammunition purchased - the type of which has to 
match the approved gun on the police-issued license, gun 
license number, and customer's signature.  They currently 
have records going back to 1985.  Earlier records were 
destroyed in a fire. 
 
6. (U) The company understands the prohibitions on re-export 
and re-transfer outside of Jamaica, and have no plans to do 
so.  Crichton said he only ever exported weapons once, in 
1977, to an owner who had emigrated to Canada and wanted 
them to ship his gun collection. 
 
7. (U) Post feels that the company is likely to abide by 
these provisions.  Crichton Brothers is an old, well- 
established company with a long track record of legitimate 
gun sales.  In recent years, they've purchased weapons from 
Arms & Ammo (Ernest Hoo, proprietor), but with his recent 
difficulties in meeting demand from his customers, Crichton 
Brothers, Inc. has decided to resume importing the weapons 
directly. 
 
8. (U) If the Department wants Post to do a site visit, Mr. 
Crichton says he's more than happy to receive an officer 
from the Embassy.  Montego Bay is located approximately 100 
miles from Kingston, and traveling there takes roughly four 
hours by car. 
 
TIGHE