Here Are All the Gun Control Laws that Affect Cuba’s Freedom Protesters

As thousands of Cubans protest against the island’s communist regime, stringent gun control laws from Havana negatively impact their efforts.

Whereas in the United States, it is common parlance to say the gun rights enumerated in the Second Amendment protect the all the other rights outlined in the Bill of Rights, in Cuba the people are not allowed any claim to a natural right to keep and bear arms. This creates a disadvantage as Cubans fight for freedom.

The University of Syndey’s GunPolicy.org highlights the “restrictive” gun control measures in Cuba. Those controls include a ban on large swathes of firearms and require those who want to own legal guns the regime recognizes as legal to first acquire a license. The process for getting a license includes “[establishing] a genuine reason to possess a firearm.” Cubans who are able to get a license “must re-apply and re-qualify for their firearm license every ten years.”