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Immigration See other Immigration Articles Title: Guns from U.S. to Mexico: Thorny issues crop up at the border NOGALES, Mexico — A steady flow of Americans used to come down Interstate 19 to this city on the Arizona border: those looking for cheap prescription drugs, kitschy souvenirs or less wholesome pursuits. That flow of visitors has largely dried up, and city leaders blame another southward stream. Guns from the U.S. are fueling an outbreak of violence in Nogales and all over Mexico, according to officials from both countries. As the U.S. and Mexico talk of a shared responsibility to contain an epidemic of drug-related violence, the U.S. is dispatching federal agents to the border to oversee expanded vehicle searches and investigations of dealers to keep guns from ending up in the hands of Mexican organized crime. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Atty. Gen. Eric Holder met with their Mexican counterparts near Mexico City last week, offering unusually frank acknowledgments of the U.S. role in Mexico's suffering. An estimated 90 percent of guns used in Mexican crimes were acquired in the U.S., and the illegal flow has begun to include more grenades and other military-style arms. Mexico's Senate approves property seizure law Tackling the gun issue won't be easy. For Mexico, it means weeding out deep-seated corruption among customs officials that often lets guns enter. In the U.S., it means revisiting the thorny topic of reinstating a ban on semiautomatic weapons, which many gun-rights groups and lawmakers are already fighting. "We have a responsibility, yes, but you [Americans] can't wash your hands of your responsibility," said Nogales Mayor Marco Antonio Martinez, who had to cope with a recent downtown shootout in broad daylight. "We hear all this talk from your side but haven't seen that you're serious about helping us in Mexico." Legally buying a gun in Mexico is not a simple process. Only one official outlet exists, run by the government, and often prospective buyers wait months for a permit. Officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives say those restrictions have led Mexican drug cartels to use their vast wealth for purchases in the U.S. According to U.S. law-enforcement officials, about 75 percent of guns that end up in Mexico are bought in the border states of Arizona, California and Texas. Officials say, however, that one significant pipeline feeding eastern Mexico begins in Illinois. Law-enforcement officials say the .38 caliber handgun had typically been the weapon of choice for drug traffickers. Now facing an increased Mexican military presence and an arms race among rival gangs, they are turning to weapons such as AK-47 rifles and even grenades. In Nogales, officials with the local police department and federal attorney general's office say criminals use this expanded firepower to outgun law enforcement. "It's like they have an unlimited arsenal," said a 20-year veteran of the Nogales police force who declined to be named because he was not authorized to be quoted. In a meeting that set the stage for a visit to Mexico by President Barack Obama this month, Napolitano and Holder pledged to create a working group with Mexican officials but offered few specifics on bilateral cooperation. Both sides plan major investments in upgrading ports of entry, which one ATF official told Congress has been "overwhelmed" by both legitimate and criminal traffic. In addition, the Justice Department announced that it would send more agents to the border to interdict gun trade. Mexican Atty. Gen. Eduardo Medina-Mora, meanwhile, said last week that Mexico plans to inspect about 10 percent of incoming vehicles, taking the "discretion" out of the inspection process, an allusion to the notoriously corrupt Mexican customs system. Mexican and U.S. officials also plan to cross-check license plates for those belonging to drivers with arrest warrants. Mexican officials say they also will inspect unusually heavy vehicles that might be driven by smugglers. U.S. authorities estimate about 6,700 gun dealers operate along the U.S. border, a ready-made bazaar for Mexico. But U.S. officials have pointedly avoided endorsing gun-control measures that some advocates say would help curb the southward flow of weapons into Mexico. Kristen Rand, legislative analyst with the Violence Policy Center in Washington, said the Obama administration could strictly enforce a ban on the importation of semiautomatic assault weapons. She estimates that about half of the guns that go to Mexico are actually first imported into the U.S., mainly from Eastern Europe. Rand also said legislators should look to reinstate a general ban on semiautomatic weapons that expired in 2004. "You can only do so much to interdict these weapons," Rand said. Rand says Democratic leaders are reluctant to alienate rural constituencies by pushing for the assault-weapons ban. Asked about the gun-control measures at last week's Mexico conference, Holder and Napolitano hedged. "That's a very controversial effort within the United States," Napolitano said. "We intend to go forward and believe we can go forward with the laws that we have. We're not going to wait. The sense of urgency is with us now." Gun-rights groups say U.S. officials are inflating the role of American weapons in Mexican violence. The National Rifle Association and other 2nd Amendment advocates say the rhetoric is an excuse to push gun-control measures that wouldn't fly otherwise. "Gun-control advocates will use any tragedy that will further their agenda to outlaw guns for law-abiding citizens," said U.S. Rep. Paul Broun of Georgia in a telephone interview. "That's what they're doing in this situation with Mexico." A group of border lawmakers, while not pitching more gun control, recently proposed $379 million to fight gun trafficking, including better southbound inspections. Their logic: The mayhem wrought by those guns in Mexico could very well spill over across the border and threaten their constituents in the U.S.
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#1. To: 2big2fail (#0)
The 90% figure is disputed. "In 2007-2008, according to ATF Special Agent William Newell, Mexico submitted 11,000 guns to the ATF for tracing. Close to 6,000 were successfully traced -- and of those, 90 percent -- 5,114 to be exact, according to testimony in Congress by William Hoover -- were found to have come from the U.S. But in those same two years, according to the Mexican government, 29,000 guns were recovered at crime scenes. In other words, 68 percent of the guns that were recovered were never submitted for tracing. And when you weed out the roughly 6,000 guns that could not be traced from the remaining 32 percent, it means 83 percent of the guns found at crime scenes in Mexico could not be traced to the U.S. So, if not from the U.S., where do they come from? There are a variety of sources: -- The Black Market. Mexico is a virtual arms bazaar, with fragmentation grenades from South Korea, AK-47s from China, and shoulder-fired rocket launchers from Spain, Israel and former Soviet bloc manufacturers. -- Russian crime organizations. Interpol says Russian Mafia groups such as Poldolskaya and Moscow-based Solntsevskaya are actively trafficking drugs and arms in Mexico. - South America. During the late 1990s, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) established a clandestine arms smuggling and drug trafficking partnership with the Tijuana cartel, according to the Federal Research Division report from the Library of Congress. -- Asia. According to a 2006 Amnesty International Report, China has provided arms to countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Chinese assault weapons and Korean explosives have been recovered in Mexico. -- The Mexican Army. More than 150,000 soldiers deserted in the last six years, according to Mexican Congressman Robert Badillo. Many took their weapons with them, including the standard issue M-16 assault rifle made in Belgium. -- Guatemala. U.S. intelligence agencies say traffickers move immigrants, stolen cars, guns and drugs, including most of America's cocaine, along the porous Mexican-Guatemalan border. On March 27, La Hora, a Guatemalan newspaper, reported that police seized 500 grenades and a load of AK-47s on the border. Police say the cache was transported by a Mexican drug cartel operating out of Ixcan, a border town." (from http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elections/2009/04/02/myth-percent-guns- mexico-fraction-number-claimed/)
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