If you’re going to the Cayman Islands, leave your ammo at home.
Honeymooner fined $3,000 for bullets
American visitor had 50 9mm bullets in his luggage
Honeymooner Joshua Onkka, 27, will leave the Cayman Islands Friday after being fined $3,000 for importing and possessing unlicensed firearms.
The Wyoming newlywed appeared in the Summary Court before Magistrate Valdis Foldats on Thursday after he was found with two boxes of handgun bullets, each containing 25 9mm bullets, in his luggage at the Owens Roberts International Airport on Saturday. He had arrived on an American Airlines flight from Miami.
The oil field laborer received bail and missed his scheduled flight home on Wednesday.
Magistrate Foldats imposed the fine or offered 90 days imprisonment as an alternative.
He said it was “a substantial amount of ammunition” and Onkka faced “a very serious charge in the Cayman Islands.”
Magistrate Foldats said the Cayman Islands had a completely different philosophy on gun crime compared to the United States, which he described as having “very liberal gun laws.”
If Onkka had been carrying the gun also, the mandatory minimum sentence would have been seven years’ imprisonment, he said.
“It’s a credit to our customs services that they are that vigilant and that they’re concerned in terms of firearms and drugs …,” Magistrate Foldats said. “It is a credit to our jurisdiction.”
Onkka told the court he had been shooting in Denver, Colorado with his bride’s uncle and thought he had removed the firearms from his bag.
“I had forgotten about all about it completely,” Onkka said.
“I deeply apologize for any inconvenience I have made for anybody here. I really know now that you guys don’t mess around with this kind of stuff. And I’m sorry.”
The judge had taken Onkka’s guilty plea into account when passing sentence.
Onkka was told that his ammunition would be forfeited, to which he responded, “I don’t want it.”
Magistrate Foldats said people needed to be aware of the laws of the countries they were visiting.
Source: http://www.compasscayman.com/caycompass/2014/06/20/Honeymooner-fined-$3,000-for-bullets/
If you’re visiting or immigrating to the Cayman Islands, keep in mind that “it is illegal to possess a firearm, as defined by the Firearms Law, without a Firearms License specifically authorized by the Commissioner of Police… It is possible however, to import a firearm (or your firearms collection) in some cases. To do so the prospective applicant should complete a Firearms License and import/export form, which can be obtained from the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (‘RCIPS’). In addition to providing the various supporting documents, the applicant will be required to declare the manner in which the firearm will be stored. Every firearm must be stored in a locked box or safe and the RCIPS will check to ensure that this is enforced. There is an active gun club on the island, visit www.cissa.ky for more information.”
Source: http://www.caymannewresident.com/what-to-bring-what-not-to-bring
Humiliating, isn’t it? Joshua Onkka was smart to pay the fine, spending 90-days in a tropical Jail full of roaches and prisoners who hate your guts for being a white tourist is not an experience worth having. I’ve seen plenty of Locked Up Abroad to know that. So congratulations Cayman Islands, you’ve managed to steal $3,000 doing nothing AND you even got to keep the ammo.
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Gregory Smith
Steal 3,000? This man broke the laws of a foreign country. If a tourist from Uruguay (where marijuana is legal) accidentally brought in a minor amount of marijuana to the US and was caught by customs, I can assure you the penalty would have been just as or more severe – would you call that stealing?
Jail probably wouldn’t be so bad here – most of the prisoners manage to smuggle ganja or rum in so it may even be fun!
Libertarians want to change America’s drug laws, if it was up to me, I would legalize everything. Are you from Grand Cayman? I went scuba-diving in your country and had a terrific time, but don’t kid yourself, jail is pretty bad almost everywhere. Maybe in America we have some Club Fed prisons for some lucky white-collar criminals, yet even our worst prisons are a joke compared to what you see in the 3rd world. Then again, I’m not sure if the Caymans qualifies as a the third world.
I’m from the US but have lived in Cayman for the last three and a half years. We have our problems here, but have one of the highest per capita GDPs in the world due to the banking and financial services industry.
I’d definitely rather pay a fine than go to Northward for 90 days, but the point is there was no “stealing” by our judicial system – this guy broke the law in a foreign jurisdiction and was punished accordingly. Regardless of your view on the second amendment, it doesn’t apply here and to make a big deal about it and project your view of gun rights to another country is absurd. I would guess that when citizens of other countries criticize the US for its liberal gun laws, compared to their own you would tell them to butt out and mind their own business.