Gun Policy News
Firearm violence, gun control and small arms
Mexico,United States
Mexican Couple Admit to 27,000-round Ammo Cache in Texas
15 May 2012
Reuters
Two illegal immigrants pleaded guilty in Texas on Monday to possessing 27,000 rounds of assault rifle ammunition along the U.S.-Mexico border, where cross-border weapons smuggling has increased in recent years, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Police in Laredo, Texas, discovered the ammunition after they stopped a Dodge Ram pickup truck that failed to stop at a stop sign in March, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson said in a statement.
Weapons traffickers along the... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Reuters
36135
Mexico
Mexican MP Suggests Military Sell Arms to Civilians Directly [Espanol]
10 May 2012
Frontenet (Mexico)
[Translated Summary: MP Gloria Guadalupe Rodriguez (PRI) has put forward a controversial initiative, suggesting the formal installation of a unit for selling arms in each military zone so that civilians could acquire them legally.]
La diputada Gloria Guadalupe Rodríguez (PRI), presentó una polémica iniciativa que pretende solicitar formalmente la instalación de una unidad de comercialización de armamento en cada zona militar, para que los ciudadanos puedan... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Frontenet (Mexico)
36118
Colombia,United States,Mexico
Five-seven Semi-Automatic Pistol Arrives on Colombian Black Market
9 May 2012
InSight Crime (Bogota)
The Five-seven semi-automatic pistol, capable of piercing body armor, is already a favored weapon of the Mexican cartels. Now there are signs that this "cop killer" gun has found its way into the Colombian black market.
A spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has described the Five-seven as "the weapon of choice" for Mexico's criminal organizations. The weapon first gained the attention of Mexico law enforcement after it was used... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: InSight Crime (Bogota)
36114
South America,Asia,Turkey,United Kingdom,Mexico,United States
Proposal to Relax Export Restrictions on Firearms in U.S. Unpopular
2 May 2012
Wall Street Journal
U.S. homeland-security and law-enforcement agencies have objected to
Obama administration proposals to relax export restrictions on
high-powered firearms, threatening a centerpiece of the president's
trade and national-security agenda.
The agencies, in internal memos viewed by The Wall Street Journal,
warn the changes could help arm drug cartels and terrorists and make
it harder for the U.S. to crack down on gun-trafficking.
The arms proposal is part of a broader... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Wall Street Journal
36097
Mexico,United States
Feds Say 68,000 Guns Seized in Mexico Were Traced Back to US [Espanol]
26 April 2012
El Correo (Spain)
[Translated Summary: Washington says 68,000 guns recovered by Mexican authorities in the past five years have been traced back to the United States. An official report by the The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says that during this period, the Mexican authorities submitted more than 99,000 arms for tracing.]
WASHINGTON - El Gobierno de México ha recuperado más de 99.000 armas de fuego entre 2007 y 2011, de las cuales más de 68.000 procedían de... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: El Correo (Spain)
36081
Mexico,United States
Washington Says 68,000 Guns Seized in Mexico Were Traced Back to US
26 April 2012
Seattle Times / AP
WASHINGTON — The government said Thursday that 68,000 guns recovered by Mexican authorities in the past five years have been traced back to the United States.
The flood of tens of thousands of weapons underscores complaints from Mexico that the U.S. is responsible for arming the drug cartels plaguing its southern neighbor. Six years of violence between warring cartels have killed more than 47,000 people in Mexico.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Seattle Times / AP
36080
Mexico,United States
New Obama Gun Rule Sparks 123 Gun Trafficking Probes in Texas Alone
25 April 2012
Houston Chronicle (Texas)
Federal agents in South Texas have opened 123 criminal investigations as a result of a new requirement that border-state gun stores report customers who buy two or more large caliber rifles in the same week, especially those preferred by Mexican drug cartels.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Wednesday that it is not looking at everyone who makes multiple purchases, but those who draw suspicion for other reasons, such as repeatedly... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Houston Chronicle (Texas)
36074
United States,Mexico
Proposal to Allow the Right to Carry Hidden Handguns in Mexico [Espanol]
19 April 2012
Milenio (Mexico)
[Translated Summary: University Professor and lawyer Ernesto Villanueva suggests allowing the free carrying of firearms in Mexico, under administrative regulations and ensuring prior technical qualification of the carriers.]
El catedrático y jurista Ernesto Villanueva aseguró que con ello se erradicará el tráfico ilegal y los delitos; además mencionó "pareciera que hay dos cárteles, uno operado por el presidente Calderón y otro operado por las bandas... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Milenio (Mexico)
36064
United States,Mexico
Mexico Seizes 268,000 Rounds of Ammunition from US Truck at Border
18 April 2012
Washington Post / AP
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Mexican customs inspectors seized 268,000 rounds of assault rifle ammunition found in a U.S. truck at a border crossing in Ciudad Juarez, authorities reported Wednesday.
Angel Torres, a spokesman for federal prosecutors in northern Chihuahua state, said a 37-year-old man from Dallas, Texas, was detained for trying to drive the truck across the border from El Paso, Texas.
Torres said the driver, who is being held pending investigation on... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Washington Post / AP
36044
United States,Mexico
90% of Guns Seized in Mexico Traced Back to US - ATF 2009 Report
16 April 2012
Latin American Herald Tribune (Venezuela)
MEXICO CITY – An exhibit of photographs and art at a Mexico City museum seeks to draw attention to the impact of arms smuggled into Mexico from the United States and gather signatures for a campaign demanding that Washington put an end to arms trafficking.
"Adios a las armas. Contrabando en las fronteras" (Goodbye Firearms. Contraband at the Borders), which opened on Nov. 30 at Mexico City's Museum of Memory and Tolerance, has been seen by about 30,000 visitors,... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Latin American Herald Tribune (Venezuela)
36031
Mexico,United States
What a Nerve: Mexican President Suggests a US Role in Gun Running
10 April 2012
The Hill (Washington DC)
The nerve of President Calderon of Mexico. How dare he come to the United States and utter two words Americans are no longer allowed to speak? I heard them myself in the Rose Garden last week: gun control.
Calderon's comments came in response to a reporter's question about the ongoing drug wars in Mexico, in which 11,000 people were killed in 2010 alone. What are you doing about the guns?
He began by noting that the level of gun violence in Mexico began to escalate in... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: The Hill (Washington DC)
36009
United States,Mexico
Art and Photo Show Focuses on Trade in Firearms, Deadly Effects in Mexico
5 April 2012
Huffington Post (USA) / AP
MEXICO CITY — An art and photo show focusing on the trade in firearms and their deadly effects in Mexico may soon be going to the United States, the same place where many of the weapons come from.
The show, "A Farewell to Arms. Contraband on the Border," uses photos and artwork to illustrate how the illegal weapons trade has affected Mexico, where more than 47,000 people have died in drug-related violence since late 2006.
The non-governmental groups Global Exchange... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Huffington Post (USA) / AP
35991
Mexico,United States
Man Pleads Guilty in Botched 'Fast and Furious' US Gun-running Sting
5 April 2012
Reuters
PHOENIX - A man pleaded guilty on Thursday to two felony counts of purchasing and running high-powered rifles to Mexico from Arizona under the botched "Fast and Furious" federal sting operation tied to the murder of a U.S. federal agent.
Jaime Avila Jr. was among a ring of 20 defendants charged with buying high-powered firearms including Kalashnikov type assault rifles and Barrett sniper rifles to run to the Mexican cartels.
The purchases were made in the Phoenix area... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Reuters
35988
United States,Mexico,Central America,Honduras,Guatemala,El Salvador
El Salvador Soldiers Accused of Selling Guns to Guatemala, Honduras Gangs
2 April 2012
InSight Crime (Bogota)
Prosecutors in El Salvador ordered the arrest of eight soldiers and one civilian linked to an arms trafficking network that may have supplied thousands of weapons to drug gangs in Guatemala and Honduras.
On March 30, the office of El Salvador's Attorney General (FGR) ordered the arrest of the nine suspects, alleging that they had participated in a scheme which involved siphoning off weapons that were slated to be destroyed, and selling them to drug trafficking... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: InSight Crime (Bogota)
35984
Mexico
For Every 300 Guns in Mexico, 299 Are Carried Without a Licence [Espanol]
28 March 2012
Quadratin (Mexico)
[Translated summary: For every 300 firearms that exist in Mexico, 299 are possessed without a licence. Of those, 270 are for criminal use, said researcher and writer Ernesto Villanueva, citing data of the Ministry of National Defense (SEDENA).]
MORELIA, Mich. - Por cada 300 armas de fuego que existen en México, 299 se portan sin permiso y de esas, 270 son para uso delictivo, afirmó el escritor e investigador Ernesto Villanueva, aludiendo datos duros de la... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Quadratin (Mexico)
35963
Mexico,Australia,Brazil,Nigeria,Canada
Canada Changed Its Arms Policy, Chose UN Delegate to Suit Gun Lobby
21 March 2012
CBC News (Canada)
The office of Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird ordered last-minute changes to Canada's position on an international arms treaty, as well as to its delegation to meetings at United Nations headquarters, CBC News has learned.
According to documents obtained under the Access to Information Act, the minister's office ignored advice from the department and ordered civil servants to invite Steve Torino, president of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association (CSSA), to... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: CBC News (Canada)
35940
Mexico,United States
Feds Caught Top Man in US-Mexico Drug Cartel Gun Running, Let Him Go
19 March 2012
Los Angeles Times
Federal agents stopped the main target of the ill-fated Operation Fast and Furious in May 2010. After they questioned him, he disappeared back into Mexico, and the program went on to spiral out of control.
WASHINGTON — Seven months after federal agents began the ill-fated Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation, they stumbled upon their main suspect in a remote Arizona outpost on the Mexican border, driving an old BMW with 74 rounds of ammunition and nine cellphones... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Los Angeles Times
35927
United States,Mexico
Mexico, Awash in Illegal Firearms, Has Just One Legal Gun Store
19 March 2012
Kansas City Star (Missouri)
MEXICO CITY — Mexico has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the world. If any of the nation's 112 million citizens want to buy firearms, there's only one store where they can do it legally. It's on a sprawling military base and run by the army.
That, however, hasn't stopped Mexicans from acquiring firearms. The country is awash in illegal guns, many of them assault weapons in the hands of merciless criminal gangs. President Felipe Calderon says authorities have... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Kansas City Star (Missouri)
35926
Mexico,United States
Legal US Gun Sales Arm Drug Cartels - Mexican Soldiers Take Weapons
15 March 2012
Reuters
Recent focus on the relationship between U.S. guns and Mexican cartels has been limited to the ATF's "Fast and the Furious." That plan had agents selling assault rifles to Mexican gun runners so that they could track high-ranking cartel members.
Though the ATF's actions are a bit questionable, there's actually a completely legal -- and perhaps more harmful -- way the U.S. is arming Mexican cartels. It's called "direct commercial sales" and it's operated by the State... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Reuters
35922
Egypt,Mexico,Iran,United States,Syria,Russia,China,Oceania,Europe,Asia,Americas,Africa
Collapse of UN Arms Trade Treaty Talks Narrowly Averted - Reuters
17 February 2012
Reuters
UNITED NATIONS - Negotiators on Friday narrowly averted the collapse of talks on a world arms trade treaty to regulate the $55 billion global weapons market, agreeing on ground rules for negotiations after days of procedural wrangling.
Delegates and advocates for tougher oversight of global arms sales said the agreement set the stage for a monthlong conference in July to draft the treaty.
Arms control campaigners say one person every minute dies as a result of armed... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Reuters
35841
Mexico,United States
Mexican President Unveils 'No More Weapons!' Billboard on US Border
17 February 2012
Washington Post / AP
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — President Felipe Calderon on Thursday unveiled a "No More Weapons!" billboard made with crushed firearms and placed near the U.S. border. He urged the United States to stop the flow of weapons into Mexico.
The billboard, which is in English and weighs 3 tons, was placed near an international bridge in Ciudad Juarez and can be seen from the United States.
Calderon said the billboard's letters were made with weapons seized by local, state and... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Washington Post / AP
35835
Mexico,United States
Texas: Desperate Housewives Buy Assault Rifles for Mexico's Drug Cartels
8 February 2012
Reuters
SAN ANTONIO - Nine Texas men and women have been sentenced to prison for purchasing firearms for Mexico's Los Zetas drug cartel, and a dozen others face charges linked to a Department of Justice probe into weapons trafficking, officials said on Wednesday.
U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman said that in many cases, the purchasers were paid a couple of hundred dollars to buy a weapon and hand it to a smuggler.
"Firearms smugglers employ individuals in the United States with no... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Reuters
35811
Mexico,United States
How America's Lax Gun Laws Enable Drug Cartel Killings in Mexico
5 February 2012
Washington Post, Editorial
Do America's failed gun policies contribute to the terrible violence in Mexico? Alejandro A. Poire Romero makes a compelling case that the answer is yes.
Law enforcement officials in both countries acknowledge that 70 to 80 percent of the traceable guns seized in Mexico can be tracked to the United States. Mr. Poire Romero, a top Mexican national security and criminal justice official, offers additional evidence that the United States has been an enabler of the... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Washington Post
35803
Mexico,United States
New York, Boston Mayors Lead Influential American Gun Control Group
4 February 2012
Reuters
NEW YORK - Among the slick, million-dollar ads for the likes of Pepsi and Honda during the Super Bowl this Sunday, viewers in Washington will see a far more modest spot. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino will be sitting on a couch touting an issue most politicians avoid like the plague: gun control.
The two mayors, whose local teams face off in the big game, are making the pitch for Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), the organization they... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Reuters
35799
Mexico,El Salvador,Honduras,Venezuela,Brazil,Colombia
Colombia Capital Tries Trial Ban on Guns in Public
2 February 2012
New York Times / AP
BOGOTA, Colombia — Gustavo Petro was imprisoned as a rebel in the 1980s on a weapons conviction. As Bogota's new mayor, he wants to get firearms off the streets of this city where the conspicuous display of guns has long been the norm.
So he's trying an experimental ban on gun-wielding in public.
The only people authorized to carry weapons during the 90-day trial that began Wednesday are active and retired police and soldiers, bodyguards of diplomats, politicians,... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: New York Times / AP
35792
United States,Mexico
Mexico Gangs Prefer Guns from the 80s-90s as They Are Harder to Trace
31 January 2012
InSight Crime (Bogota)
According to Mexico's Defense Department, criminal organizations are equipping themselves with firearms that are between 20 and 30 years old. The government says this casts doubt on the claim that the gangs are better armed than the security forces.
The Mexican Army seized over 130,000 firearms since 2006, the majority of which were fabricated in the 1980s and 1990s, Excelsior reports. These include makeshift weapons that were modified or repaired using old parts from... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: InSight Crime (Bogota)
35789
United States,Mexico
US Suggested Mexico Allow Illegal Guns to Cross Border to Cartels
28 January 2012
Washington Post / AP
WASHINGTON — Newly released Justice Department emails sent to Capitol Hill for a congressional inquiry into a gun-smuggling operation indicate that the head of the department's criminal division suggested letting some illicit "straw" weapons buyers in the U.S. transport their guns across the border into Mexico where they could be arrested.
According to the emails turned over to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Friday night, the Justice official,... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Washington Post / AP
35780
United States,Mexico
Normally Law-Abiding Mexicans Take Up Illegal Guns for Protection
28 January 2012
National Public Radio (USA)
In Mexico, where criminals are armed to the teeth with high-powered weapons smuggled from the United States, it may come as a surprise that the country has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the world.
Law-abiding Mexicans who want a gun to defend themselves have no good options. Either they fight government red tape to get a legal permit, or they buy one on the black market.
After an outbreak of violence, one embattled community in northern Mexico called... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: National Public Radio (USA)
35773
Madagascar,Guinea,Ghana,Botswana,Angola,Algeria,South Africa,Europe,Asia,Americas,Africa,Russia,Austria,Israel,Germany,Italy,United States,Yemen,Philippines,Pakistan,Sri Lanka,Tunisia,Brazil,Burkina Faso,Egypt,Côte d'Ivoire,Malawi,Mauritania,Morocco,Namibia,Niger,Nigeria,Congo (ROC),Senegal,Tanzania,Uganda,Zambia,Zimbabwe,Argentina,Ecuador,Chile,Honduras,Guatemala,United Arab Emirates,Trinidad & Tobago,Jordan,Dominican Republic,Singapore,Kazakhstan,Liberia,Saudi Arabia,Bosnia & Herzegovina,Congo (DRC),Guyana,Mauritius,Latvia,Oman,Nepal,Somalia,Bolivia,Colombia,Venezuela,Peru,Mexico,Qatar,Kuwait,Indonesia,Malaysia,Thailand
Brazilian Gun Industry Seeks New Markets: Africa and Asia [Portugues]
27 January 2012
Publica (Brazil)
[Translated summary: With the support of the Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs, Brazilian gun manufacturers seek new markets in countries with a history of human rights violations: Tunisia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Philippines and Yemen. Brazil is among the six countries in the world with annual exports exceeding $ 100 million, according to recent research from Small Arms Survey. According to the Army, responsible for supervising and controlling exports from 2005 to... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Publica (Brazil)
35794
Mexico,United States
In Wake of Botched Gun Trafficking Probe, US Reveals New Sting Rules
27 January 2012
Chicago Tribune / Reuters
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration on Friday revealed new reforms undertaken to improve how it conducts undercover gun trafficking investigations in the wake of a botched operation in which scores of weapons disappeared.
The reforms require additional oversight of undercover operations, including those that involve more than 50 firearms, and, in most cases, ends the practice of paying gun dealers to serve as confidential informants.
Additionally, a new review... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Chicago Tribune / Reuters
35775
Mexico,United States
US Gun Dealers on Mexico Border Must Report Multiple Sales
18 January 2012
InSight Crime (Bogota)
A ruling by a US judge on tracking the sale of high-powered firearms in states on the southern border is a step forward for authorities trying to legislate against the flow of guns into Mexico.
Federal Judge Rosemary Collyer upheld an order made last year by the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The ATF asked more than 8,000 gun dealers in Arizona, Texas, California and New Mexico to report sales of multiple semi-automatic rifles to one... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: InSight Crime (Bogota)
35743
Mexico
More Than 6 Million Firearms Illegally Circulating in Mexico [Espanol]
20 December 2011
El Occidental (Guadalajara)
[Translated summary: More than six million firearms are illegally circulating in Mexico. Rep. Salvador Caro suggests a three months period to register these, then punish illegal carrying of a firearm with five years in prison and no right to bail.]
Más de seis millones de armas de fuego circulan por México de manera ilegal, sin licencia, y es por ello que el diputado federal Salvador Caro propone se dé un plazo de tres meses para registrar una parte de éstas, para... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: El Occidental (Guadalajara)
35680
Jamaica,Honduras,Israel,Canada,Norway,Australia,Colombia,El Salvador,United States,Venezuela,Pakistan,Mexico
Armed Societies, Another Tragedy for Women: Mexico, Pakistan, Venezuela
9 December 2011
Inter Press Service News Agency
CARACAS - Kairobis Arcia, 25, died from a bullet to her head shot by her husband, Oswaldo Mendoza, 32, who said he was blinded by jealousy in an argument fuelled by alcohol and drugs.
Her murder was just one of the more than 468,000 homicides a year that occur worldwide, 42 percent of which are committed with firearms. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the global murder rate is 6.9 per 100,000 people – 11.9 per 100,000 among men and... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Inter Press Service News Agency
35654
Guatemala,Mexico,United States
Texas Gun Shop Sold 'Infantry Squad' Weapons to Mexican Cartel Smugglers
8 December 2011
Guardian (UK)
It was nothing more than a routine inspection for federal agents. But as they browsed the records of Carter's Country gun shop in Houston, investigators picked up on a series of big sales. For cash.
Federal agents were alerted not only by the number of guns involved – sometimes a dozen at a time – but the type. Time and again buyers walked out of Carter's Country clutching assault rifles, semi-automatic pistols with armour-piercing bullets and powerful sniper... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Guardian (UK)
35645
Mexico,United States
US Quietly Approves Massive Escalation in Number of Guns Sold to Mexico
6 December 2011
CBS News (USA)
Selling weapons to Mexico - where cartel violence is out of control - is controversial because so many guns fall into the wrong hands due to incompetence and corruption. The Mexican military recently reported nearly 9,000 police weapons "missing."
Yet the U.S. has approved the sale of more guns to Mexico in recent years than ever before through a program called "direct commercial sales." It's a program that some say is worse than the highly-criticized "Fast and... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: CBS News (USA)
35637
Turkey,Nicaragua,Mexico
Mexico Makes Biggest-Ever Seizure of Smuggled Guns, Source Unknown
29 November 2011
InSight Crime (Bogota)
Federal authorities confiscated 911 guns from a container ship in the port of Lazaro Cardenas, on Mexico's Pacific, which was headed to Nicaragua.
The guns were found on board a cargo ship en route to Nicaragua, during a planned stop at the Michoacan port of Lazaro Cardenas. The ship is believed to be of Turkish origin, but no information was provided on the origin or destination of the weapons.
The operation was carried out by Mexico's Navy, working with the Federal... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: InSight Crime (Bogota)
35607
Venezuela,Peru,Ecuador,Chile,Bolivia,Paraguay,Brazil,Argentina,Mexico,Colombia,Uruguay,United States,North America,South America,Central America,Caribbean
Latin American Governments Target Gun Runners, Countries Making Guns
28 November 2011
United Press International
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay - Latin America's increasingly ambitious Mercosur regional bloc is aiming to focus on small arms suppliers who are seen as being behind the region's endemic and seemingly insurmountable problem of violent crime.
The area's disparate armed groups, guerrillas with political agenda and drug-related gangs have drawn attention from Mercosur's watchdog committees as senior officials explore ways of containing organized crime, rooting out myriad networks... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: United Press International
35594
Central America,United States,Mexico,Guatemala
Guatemala and the Black Market for US Weapons
25 November 2011
InSight Crime (Bogota)
The trafficking of weapons over the U.S.-Mexico border is well-documented -- lesser known but also significant is the sale of U.S. weapons to Guatemalan government contractors, which are then siphoned off to criminal groups.
The Mexican government has focused much of its efforts to stop arms trafficking on the smuggling of weapons over the U.S. border. This strategy ignores other sources of weapons, and other entry points. Central America, for example, represents a... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: InSight Crime (Bogota)
35588
Guatemala,United States,Mexico,Costa Rica,South America,Caribbean,Central America
Gun Trade Drives Soaring Latin American Homicide Rates, say Experts
24 November 2011
AFP
SAN JOSE — Illegal weapons trafficking has turned Latin America into a region of bloodletting in which over 40 percent of the world's homicides take place, experts warned Wednesday.
"Forty-two percent of homicides with a firearm that happen worldwide take place in Latin America, though only 10 percent of the world's population lives here," said Nobel laureate and former president Oscar Arias, citing UN data, at a conference of experts.
Although weapons such as... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: AFP
35583
Mexico,United States
Texas Border Town a Hotspot for US-Mexico Ammunition Smugglers
22 November 2011
KVUE.com (Texas)
EAGLE PASS, Texas – The small border town Eagle Pass has become a big corridor for ammunition smugglers who supply violent drug cartels.
In November, there was a large spike in smuggling activity.
"Just this month alone there have been three separate seizures totaling 700 magazines for AK-47 rifles," said Randy Clark, Patrol Agent in Charge for the U.S. Border Patrol station in Eagle Pass.
On Nov. 3, Border Patrol agents seized three black duffle bags near the Rio... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: KVUE.com (Texas)
35573
South America,Guatemala,El Salvador,Central America,United States,Mexico
Black Market Gun Runners Develop New Central American Routes - Report
21 November 2011
InSight Crime (Bogota)
Because the recent spike in drug-related violence in Mexico has coincided with the 2004 expiration of the U.S. assault weapons ban, and because a significant portion of the weapons used in Mexican crimes have been traced to U.S. vendors, Mexican officials often accuse liberal U.S. gun laws of being a major obstacle to a safer Mexico. Indeed, President Felipe Calderon made precisely this point during a speech to U.S. Congress in 2010.
U.S. officials have not denied that... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: InSight Crime (Bogota)
35568
Guatemala,United States,Mexico,Central America
Arms Trafficking, Business of Death: Guns in Central America [Espanol]
16 November 2011
Contralinea (Mexico)
[Translated Summary: Contralinea magazine details the routes by which guns are trafficked into Mexico, including the flow of arms from the US directly to Guatemala, and then over Mexico's southern border. English translation at: http://bit.ly/uBnEGu]
En la última década, México pasó del lugar vigesimosegundo al quinto en tráfico de armas en el ámbito mundial. Se calcula que cada día ingresan al país unas 2 mil para abastecer a los cárteles de la droga, la... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Contralinea (Mexico)
35574
Guatemala,El Salvador,Mexico,United States,Honduras,South America,Central America,Caribbean
Latin American Leaders Demand International Action on Arms Trafficking
11 November 2011
InSight Crime (Bogota)
The 2011 Ibero-American Summit, held in Asuncion, Paraguay in October, was criticized for its failures, but leaders used the platform to call attention to the global arms trade and demand international cooperation on more effective measures to fight weapons trafficking and organized crime.
At the close of the summit, the member countries issued a separate and special declaration (available in pdf format here) defining public security as a precondition for economic and... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: InSight Crime (Bogota)
35537
Libya,Mexico,Germany
Assault Weapon Bribery Probe: Gun Maker Heckler & Koch Raided Again
10 November 2011
Associated Press
BERLIN — Some 300 police officers searched the headquarters of Heckler & Koch Thursday amid allegations the German arms maker bribed Mexican officials to boost its sales, prosecutors said.
The firm is under investigation on suspicion that it "bribed officials in Mexico using cash payments for several years" in connection with arms deliveries between 2005 and 2010, Stuttgart prosecution spokeswoman Claudia Krauth said.
A spokeswoman for Heckler & Koch GmbH confirmed... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Associated Press
35530
Mexico,United States
Obama's A-G Blames Congress for 'Losing Battle' in US-Mexico Gun Running
8 November 2011
Guardian (UK)
The Obama administration has warned that the US is "losing the battle" to stem the flow of weapons from American guns shops to Mexican drug cartels responsible for tens of thousands of killings.
The US attorney general, Eric Holder, told a Senate hearing that Congress is in part to blame because of its hostility to gun control, even going so far as to try and block federal law enforcement agencies from requiring gun shops to report multiple sales of automatic... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Guardian (UK)
35522
Mexico,United States
Attorney General Urges US Lawmakers to Slow US-Mexico Gun Running
8 November 2011
New York Times
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Tuesday sought to move past the political furor over Operation Fast and Furious, the disputed Arizona gun trafficking investigation, to the wider problem of the flow of American firearms to Mexican drug cartels — and what he portrayed as roadblocks members of Congress have thrown up to stemming that flow.
In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Holder criticized a recent vote by the House of... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: New York Times
35516
Mexico,Congo (DRC),Sudan,Central African Republic,Sri Lanka,Colombia,Jamaica,Iraq,El Salvador,Central Africa,Caribbean,Central America,South America
Study Finds Again That Crime, Not War is Main Source of Gun Violence
29 October 2011
Associated Press
GENEVA — More people are killed by armed violence resulting from crime than are killed in war, with Latin America and a swath of countries through the middle of Africa among the hardest hit, an international study claimed Thursday.
About 526,000 people die violently every year — or more than 1,400 people every day — according to the 2011 Global Burden of Armed Violence report.
Only about 55,000 of those killed die in warfare, while an estimated 396,000 people... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Associated Press
35488
Mexico,United States
US Defends Gun Sale Reporting Requirement in Court
26 October 2011
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Gun store owners in southwestern border states argued in federal court Tuesday that the Obama administration cannot require them to report when customers buy multiple high-powered rifles.
The Justice Department responded to a lawsuit seeking to block the two-month-old requirement by asking a judge to uphold its legality, arguing the measure could help stop the flow of guns to Mexican drug cartels. It requires sellers in California, Arizona, New Mexico... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Associated Press
35475
Guatemala,El Salvador,Caribbean,South America,Central America,Mexico,United States
Authorities Discussed California's Role as a Pipeline for Illegal Guns to Mexico
25 October 2011
Southern California Public Radio (USA)
State and local officials were joined by Mexican law enforcement in Los Angeles Tuesday to discuss California's role as a pipeline for illegal weapons to Mexican drug cartels.
Authorities say California actually ranks much lower than other border states in gun trafficking. But the state's highways are often used to transport the weapons.
State Senator Kevin De Leon chairs the Senate Select Committee on Immigration and the Economy. The L.A. Democrat says federal... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Southern California Public Radio (USA)
35462
Mexico,United States
Second Bush Administration Gun-Trafficking Investigation
15 October 2011
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A second Bush administration gun-trafficking investigation has surfaced using the same controversial tactic for which congressional Republicans have been criticizing the Obama administration.
The tactic, called "gun walking," is already under investigation by the Justice Department's inspector general and by congressional Republicans, who have criticized the administration of Democratic President Barack Obama for letting it happen in an operation called... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Associated Press
35418
Mexico
Mexico: No Licence to Carry Guns if History of Domestic Violence [Espanol]
11 October 2011
Periodico Digital (Mexico)
[Translated summary: The National Defence Commission of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies approved a ruling that establishes new requirements for those applying for a licence to carry firearms, including no criminal record for willful or negligent use of firearms and no history of domestic violence.]
La Comisión de Defensa Nacional estableció nuevas obligaciones para este trámite
La Comisión de Defensa Nacional de la Cámara de Diputados federal aprobó el dictamen... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Periodico Digital (Mexico)
35395
Mexico,United States
Smuggled US Ammunition Feeds Mexico's Ongoing Drug Gun Wars
9 October 2011
USA Today
PHOENIX - Every year, thousands of guns are smuggled into Mexico from the United States, fueling the brutal drug-cartel wars and stirring outrage on both sides of the border.
But often overlooked in the controversy are the tons of bullets that also make their way south of the border.
In Mexico, ammunition is strictly regulated and possession of even a single illegal round can lead to prison. But there is nonetheless a steady supply of bullets. Almost all of it comes... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: USA Today
35386
Colombia,Venezuela,Guatemala,Mexico,El Salvador,Honduras,South America,Central America,Caribbean
Epidemic of Gun Violence in Latin America - United Nations Data
4 October 2011
UN Dispatch (new York)
As the drug trade — and the organized crime it spawns — spread through Latin America, the region is facing an epidemic of gun violence, according to new U.N. data. Speaking at a conference on the subject in Lima, Peru, Camilo Duplat of the Regional Center for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean announced that some 740,000 Latin Americans are dying annually in gun violence, and 500,000 of those deaths are linked to organized crime.... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: UN Dispatch (new York)
35352
Peru,Mexico,Venezuela,Colombia,Central America,El Salvador,Honduras,Caribbean,South America
80 Million Firearms in Latin America and the Caribbean [Espanol]
29 September 2011
Andina (Lima)
[Translated summary: There are 80 million firearms in Latin America and the Caribbean, the majority of them in the hands of civilians. In Honduras and El Salvador, there are respectively 77 and 62 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. Central America has the world's highest homicide rate.]
LIMA - Alrededor de 80 millones de armas de fuego existen en América Latina y el Caribe, la mayor parte en poder de civiles, lo que acrecienta el problema de la violencia en el... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Andina (Lima)
35345
Venezuela,South America,Colombia,Mexico
Venezuela Tries to Stem Violence and Easy Availability of Guns
22 September 2011
InSightCrime.org (Latin America and Caribbean)
Venezuela is altering its gun policy in an effort to stem the alarming level of street violence, but the entrenched nature of gun possession in the country will prove difficult to remedy in the short term.
On June 6, Venezuelan Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami announced the establishment of a commission which is charged with tightening the regulation of arms in the country. Since its creation, the body has enacted a number of reforms, including banning the possession... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: InSightCrime.org (Latin America and Caribbean)
35321
United States,Mexico
US Customs Seized 30 Assault Rifles Bound for Mexico
22 September 2011
Reuters
AUSTIN, Texas - U.S. customs agents in Texas seized 30 high-powered assault rifles when they searched a car heading into Mexico in what they said was the largest gun seizure at the state's border this year.
Agents at the Del Rio port of entry found the stash of Kalashnikov and M-4 type rifles in the trunk of a Nissan Altima headed into Mexico on Wednesday, and arrested the 18-year-old driver from Eagle Pass, the Customs and Border Protection agency said in a news... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Reuters
35320
Mexico,United States
Mexico Still Waiting for Answers on US Gun-running Programme
19 September 2011
Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Mexico City and Washington— Last fall's slaying of Mario Gonzalez, the brother of a Mexican state prosecutor, shocked people on both sides of the border. Sensational news reports revealed that cartel hit men had tortured Gonzalez, and forced him to make a videotaped "confession" that his high-powered sister was on the take.
But American authorities concealed one disturbing fact about the case from their Mexican counterparts: U.S. federal agents had... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Los Angeles Times
35303
Europe,United States,El Salvador,Honduras,Mexico,Venezuela
In Crime-Ridden Venezuela, Even Hospitals Are No Longer Safe
11 September 2011
San Francisco Chronicle / AP
CARACAS, Venezuela - A young man dies of gunshot wounds, and enraged friends and relatives react by shooting up the hospital. A medical student leaving another hospital at the end of her shift is shot to death by a robber. Doctors working late take to sleeping in their workplace rather than risk being mugged.
In crime-ridden Venezuela, even hospitals are no longer safe.
No one was injured in the Aug. 20 shooting rampage at the Domingo Luciani Hospital in Caracas, but... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: San Francisco Chronicle / AP
35262
Mexico,United States
Mexico Arrests US Man Accused of Smuggling Arm Parts for Cartels
6 September 2011
Washington Post / AP
PHOENIX — Police have arrested an American man who allegedly smuggled parts for as many as 2,000 grenades into Mexico for drug cartels, more than a year after he was released by U.S. agents who stopped him at the Arizona-Mexico border for having more than a hundred grenade parts.
While a Department of Justice official said the case will be added to the investigation of Operation Fast and Furious, a flawed effort by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Washington Post / AP
35250
Mexico,United States
American in Mexican Custody Suspected of Gun Trafficking for Cartels
6 September 2011
CNN
Mexican authorities have an American citizen in custody who they say is suspected of trafficking firearms and grenades to a major Mexican drug cartel.
According to Mexico's attorney general's office, Jean Baptiste Kingery Moinssonm was allegedly smuggling firearm and grenade parts into the country. Once the goods were in Mexican territory, Moinssonm allegedly assembled and sold the weapons to the Sinaloa cartel.
Mexican federal police took Moinssonm into custody in... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: CNN
35248
Mexico,United States
America's Refusal to Curb Gun Traffic to Mexican Cartels the 'Real Scandal'
1 September 2011
Washington Post, Editorial
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced Tuesday that Kenneth E. Melson, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), would step down from his post. Also announced was that U.S. Attorney Dennis K. Burke of Arizona would resign.
In Washington parlance, both men had become "distractions" because of their roles in the now-discredited "Operation Fast and Furious." The Phoenix-based effort was intended to slow the illegal flow of... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Washington Post
35232
Mexico,United States
Feds' US-Mexico Gun Trafficking Scandal Costs Top Officials Their Jobs
31 August 2011
New York Times
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Tuesday replaced two top Justice Department officials associated with an ill-fated investigation into a gun-trafficking network in Arizona that has been at the center of a political conflagration.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced the resignation of the United States attorney in Phoenix, Dennis K. Burke, and the reassignment of the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Kenneth... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: New York Times
35229
Colombia,United States,Mexico,Central America,Iraq,El Salvador,Guatemala,Honduras
Honduras Standing As the Epicenter of Central America's Arms Trade
13 August 2011
Honduras Weekly / InSight Crime
A recent report released by the National Commissioner for Human Rights (Conadeh), in Honduras indicates that there are more than 850,000 weapons in circulation in the country. Only 258,000 weapons, however, are officially registered. It is therefore hardly surprising, in a country with hundreds of thousands of illegal weapons, that as many as 80 percent of homicides are firearm related.
Traditionally, Hondurans have taken a rather liberal approach to gun ownership,... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Honduras Weekly / InSight Crime
35190
Mexico,United States
US Gun Lobby Tries to Kill New Law on Reporting of Multiple Gun Sales
9 August 2011
USA Today, Editorial
Martin Johnson had a nice little business going in 2008 and 2009. He'd leave home in California and buy dozens of guns in Arizona, where the gun laws are much looser, using an Arizona driver's license to pretend that he still lived there. Back in California, Johnson sold the guns to his neighbor, a convicted felon who couldn't legally buy guns at all. The neighbor sold some of the guns to his buddies, none of whom was a legal buyer, either.
NRA: Gun form won't deter... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: USA Today
35170
Guatemala,El Salvador,Central America,Mexico,United States
US Gun Lobby, Congress Hamper, Slow Work of Feds' Gun Tracing Centre
5 August 2011
Houston Chronicle (Texas)
MARTINSBURG, West Virginia — No signs mark the outside of the hidden 1960s-vintage government facility in the bucolic countryside of West Virginia's panhandle.
Even the parking lot is obscured by black tarps lining a cyclone fence.
But just inside the warehouse-like brick building is the National Tracing Center, the epicenter of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' effort to combat and control illegal gun use.
When police need to trace a... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Houston Chronicle (Texas)
35166
Mexico,Canada,Oceania,Europe,Asia,Americas,Africa,United States
US Gun Lobby, Arms Makers Raise Alarm Over UN Global Gun Trade Process
5 August 2011
Fox News (USA)
A controversial U.N. proposed treaty aimed at regulating guns worldwide has been shrouded by confusion and misinformation.
Known informally as the 'Small Arms Treaty,' its detractors have charged the proposed agreement with secretly trying to take guns out of the hands of Americans and circumventing the 2nd Amendment.
While that is unlikely, a working draft proposal obtained by FoxNews.com contains language that some gun advocates say could have a real impact on... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Fox News (USA)
35164
South Africa,Brazil,Argentina,Australia,Mexico,United States,Canada,Africa,Sweden,Oceania,Europe,Asia,Americas
Canada Gun Lobby Influence on Foreign Policy: Arms Trade Treaty
3 August 2011
Embassy Magazine (Canada), Opinion
Canada has never been a strong supporter of international efforts to negotiate an effective Arms Trade Treaty. But in mid-July, it reversed its previous low-key but constructive role at the United Nations ATT preparatory meetings to become a potential treaty spoiler. All indications point to this change of heart arising from the domestic gun lobby's influence on Canadian foreign policy.
After years of preparation, member states of the United Nations will devote a month... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Embassy Magazine (Canada)
35160
Mexico,United States
US Gun Lobby Fights Mexico Border Semi-automatic Rifle Sale Control
3 August 2011
New York Times / Reuters
WASHINGTON - The U.S. gun industry on Wednesday sued to block requirements that weapons dealers along the border with Mexico report multiple sales of semi-automatic rifles, escalating the fight with the Obama administration.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) last month ordered more than 8,000 gun dealers in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California to report such sales to try to stem the "iron river" of guns flowing to violent Mexican drug... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: New York Times / Reuters
35158
United States,Norway,United Kingdom,Africa,Afghanistan,Mexico
Gun Trade Inevitably Leads to the Sort of Atrocity Inflicted on Norway
31 July 2011
Independent (UK), Opinion
In discussion of the atrocity in Norway last week, there is one subject which has been notable by the almost total silence about it: guns. In response to recurring massacres in American high schools and British villages, in response to footage from Africa and Afghanistan showing ragged, untrained young men brandishing automatic small arms, in response to a man coolly murdering dozens of youngsters in an hour-and-a-half, funfair-like shooting spree on a Norwegian island,... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Independent (UK)
35146
Mexico,United States
For Mexicans, US Gun Industry Plays a Role in Mexico's Drug Violence
31 July 2011
McClatchy Newspapers (USA)
MEXICO CITY -- While a gunrunning sting known as Fast and Furious draws criticism in Congress for losing track of weapons that were smuggled into Mexico, Mexicans say the controversy confirms their conviction that the U.S. gun industry profits off of bloodshed south of the border.
As new details of the U.S. undercover operation emerged last week in congressional hearings in Washington, many Mexicans said the scandal demonstrates how easily crime gangs obtain large... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: McClatchy Newspapers (USA)
35145
Mexico,United States,Canada
Tracking Guns in Canada - With or Without the Federal Registry
30 July 2011
Montreal Gazette (Québec)
There are ways to track firearms with or without the federal long-gun registry, which is expected to be scrapped this fall:
TRACKING GUNS
Toronto Police Chief William Blair, the current president of Canadian Association of Police Chiefs, wrote federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews on May 19 with a few ideas:
--That the long-gun regis-try's existing data (firearms descriptions, serial numbers, owners' names and addresses) be transferred within the RCMP to the... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Montreal Gazette (Québec)
35149
Mexico,United States
Inside the Controversial US-Mexico Gun Trafficking Investigation
30 July 2011
Associated Press
PHOENIX -- Ten days before Christmas, ATF agent John Dodson awoke, got his morning coffee, switched on the TV news – and heard the words he had dreaded every day of every month he had been a member of the gun-trafficking investigative team called the Group VII Strike Force.
A Border Patrol agent had been shot dead in a gun battle with suspected bandits. The agent was 40, only months older than Dodson himself, another ex-military man who chose to serve his country by... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Associated Press
35144
Mexico,United States
Feds Made 'Colossally Dumb Decision' Allowing US Guns to 'Walk' Into Mexico
28 July 2011
New York Times, Editorial
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — perennially hogtied by the gun lobby's power over Congress — made a colossally dumb decision when it concocted a sting operation that let 2,020 high-powered weapons slip across the border into Mexico.
The goal of Operation Fast and Furious, begun in 2009, was to tolerate suspicious large-scale purchases of assault weapons on the American side of the border in order to track the guns all the way up the... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: New York Times
35138
Mexico
Mexican Prison Massacre Using Assault Weapons Left 17 Dead, Including Girl
28 July 2011
Guardian (UK)
Two days of debauchery and horror inside the municipal jail in Mexico's Ciudad Juárez began with alcohol, drugs and sex with minors, and ended with the massacre of 17 people using high-powered firearms later successfully concealed from police.
Some of the violence was captured on a surveillance video released by the state-level authority investigating what happened. It shows two prisoners clearing a corridor of guards before unlocking a door to allow armed men to... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Guardian (UK)
35137
Mexico,United States
US Teen Gets 3yrs Jail for Gun Crime, Killing, Beheading 4 Men in Mexico
27 July 2011
Washington Post / AP
MIACATLAN, Mexico — A Mexican judge on Tuesday sentenced a teenage U.S. citizen to three years in prison for homicide, kidnapping and drug and weapons possession. Authorities say the teen confessed to killing four people whose beheaded bodies were found suspended from a bridge.
Edgar Jimenez Lugo, known as "El Ponchis," was given the maximum sentenced allowed for a minor in the central state of Morelos, said state prosecutor Jose Manuel Serrano Falmerol. Jimenez was... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Washington Post / AP
35119
Mexico,United States
Firearm Trafficking: The Embarrassing US-Mexico Operation [Francais]
26 July 2011
Radio Canada
[Translated summary: The investigation carried out into the US Operation against firearms trafficking between US and Mexico is embarrassing for Washington.]
La Chambre des représentants enquête sur une opération du gouvernement américain contre le trafic d'armes entre les États-Unis et le Mexique, qui est en train de plonger Washington dans l'embarras.
Lancée en 2009 par des agents du Bureau de l'alcool, du tabac et des armes à feu (ATF), à Phoenix,... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Radio Canada
35120
Central America,Mexico,United States
ATF Data Defy Theory, Tie US Gun Flow To Mexican Cartels
23 July 2011
San Francisco Chronicle
Washington -- The claim that Mexican cartels rely on huge stocks of military surplus weaponry from civil wars in Central America is the mantra of pro-gun organizations fearful that linking drug violence to U.S.-purchased weapons could lead to more gun control.
Though gun-rights advocates and at least one prominent U.S. senator ferociously stand by that politically charged theory, federal firearms data show only a tiny percentage originate south of Mexico's... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: San Francisco Chronicle
35106
Costa Rica,Panama,El Salvador,Nicaragua,Colombia,Central America,United States,Mexico,Honduras,Guatemala
Most Guns Seized in Guatemala 'Come From Honduras' [Espanol]
19 July 2011
La Prensa (Honduras), Editorial
[Translated summary: Most guns seized in Guatemala come from Honduras, claims Public Ministry. Assault rifles, hand grenades, semi-automatic weapons, large caliber rifles as unconventional Barrett .50 caliber and AK-47, were part of the weaponry confiscated from the Zetas (dug cartel) operating in Central America.]
Fusiles de asalto, armas automáticas y granadas buscan los criminales mexicanos en países centroamericanos para continuar la guerra que libran con la... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: La Prensa (Honduras)
35085
Mexico,United States
ATF Chief Confirms Some Criticism of the Agency on US Guns Scandal
19 July 2011
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says that in at least one instance during a now-controversial gun-running investigation his agents did not intercept high-powered weapons when they could and should have.
Kenneth Melson's acknowledgement is the first by any senior ATF leader that confirms some of the criticism that Republicans on Capitol Hill have been leveling at Operation Fast and Furious. The concerns have resulted in... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Associated Press
35074
Mexico,United States
US Justice Dept. Trying to Shield Officials in Gun Trafficking Scandal
19 July 2011
Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Washington— The Justice Department is trying to protect its political appointees from the Fast and Furious scandal by concealing an internal "smoking gun" report and other documents that acknowledge the role top officials played in the program that allowed firearms to flow illegally into Mexico, according to the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Kenneth E. Melson, the ATF's acting director, also told congressional... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Los Angeles Times
35073
Mexico,United States
Obama Adm. Took Significant Step for Gun Control at Mexican Border
17 July 2011
Los Angeles Times, Editorial
The Obama administration took a concrete step toward curbing the flow of semiautomatic weapons to Mexico last week when it adopted a new regulation mandating the reporting of multiple sales of long guns to federal authorities.
Under the regulation, some 8,500 licensed gun shops in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas will be required to inform the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when a customer buys more than one semiautomatic that is .22... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Los Angeles Times
35070
Mexico,United States
US-Mexico Gun Tracking Program Comes Under Congressional Fire
16 July 2011
Christian Science Monitor
ATLANTA - Busting a major gunrunning ring on the New Mexico frontier – and netting a mayor, a police chief and a town councilor in the process – would normally be a huge feather in the cap of embattled federal agencies under pressure to stop cross-border arms smuggling and corruption.
But instead, the resolution of the so-called Columbus 11 case in the historic border village of Columbus, N.M., has taken on a muted tone, primarily because of its potentially... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Christian Science Monitor
35067
Mexico,United States
Former Mayor of New Mexico Town Pleads Guilty to Gun Smuggling
14 July 2011
Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — The former mayor of a small New Mexico border town has pleaded guilty to charges he participated in a gun smuggling ring that federal prosecutors said sent hundreds of guns into Mexico, authorities said Wednesday.
Eddie Espinoza faces 65 years in prison. The 51-year-old was arrested in March along with two other Columbus town officials — police chief Angelo Vega and former trustee Blas Gutierrez. The three were among a dozen people charged... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Associated Press
35066
Mexico,United States
US Justice Department Effort to Contain Gun Running Scandal Crumbling
13 July 2011
Washington Post, Editorial
The Justice Department's effort to contain the Operation Fast and Furious gunrunning scandal is crumbling. Members of Congress are demanding full disclosure regarding the bizarre scheme to funnel guns to Mexican drug cartels, supposedly to help sniff out the higher-level bad guys. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. isn't helping congressional investigators understand the rationale behind this breathtakingly dumb idea.
The so-called Fast and Furious program fit right... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Washington Post
35056
Mexico,United States
Gun Mayhem Along Border, Obama Must Pursue Stronger Gun Control
13 July 2011
New York Times, Editorial
It is an open and deadly scandal that at least 70 percent of the weapons recovered in Mexico's bloody drug war originate in the United States, where shady gun buyers operate freely thanks to loopholes in American law. To its credit, the Obama administration has ordered the more than 8,000 dealers along the border to begin reporting multiple sales of AK-47s and other semiautomatic battlefield weapons to the federal firearms bureau.
Straw buyers have been easily... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: New York Times
35055
United States,Mexico
New US Rule on Border Gun Sales is Drawing Both Praise and Criticism
12 July 2011
Fox News (USA)
The Justice Department's new policy on requiring all gun shops in four Southwest border states to report frequent buyers of semi-automatic weapons is drawing both praise and criticism.
Dennis Henigan, acting president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, is pleased with the new requirement.
"This new reporting rule will give law enforcement new capacity to interdict these deadly guns before they can be used against Mexican police and citizens."
But the... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Fox News (USA)
35049
United States,Mexico
New Rules Announced Amid Criticism of Flawed US Gun-running Operation
12 July 2011
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — In an effort to stem the illicit flow of weapons into Mexico, the Justice Department announced Monday that all gun shops in four Southwest border states will be required to alert the federal government to frequent buyers of high-powered rifles.
The new policy comes amid criticism of a flawed federal probe aimed at dismantling large-scale arms trafficking networks along the Arizona border with Mexico.
In the probe, called Operation Fast and Furious,... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Associated Press
35042
Mexico,United States
New US Rules Require Dealers to Report Multiple Semi-auto Rifle Sales
11 July 2011
New York Times
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Monday approved a new regulation requiring firearms dealers along the Southwest border to report multiple sales of certain semiautomatic rifles, a rule intended to make it harder for Mexican drug cartels to obtain and smuggle weapons from the United States.
Under the rule, dealers in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas will be required to inform the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives if someone buys —... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: New York Times
35037
United States,Mexico
Head of US Federal Firearm Agency Admits Mexico Gun Sting Mistakes
7 July 2011
BBC News
The head of the US firearms agency has told Congress mistakes were made in a sting operation meant to track the illegal movement of guns to Mexico.
Under Operation Fast and Furious, US officials were told to allow hundreds of guns to be smuggled into Mexico.
The aim was to track them to major weapons traffickers, but some of the guns were later found at crime scenes.
Agency head Kenneth Melson said he was "sick to his stomach" on learning the full details of the... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: BBC News
35025
Mexico,United States
Head of US Federal Firearm Bureau Admits Mexico Gun Sting Mistakes
6 July 2011
Reuters
The acting head of the U.S. firearms agency admitted during secret talks at Congress that mistakes were made in a botched operation to track the illegal movement of guns to Mexico, lawmakers said on Wednesday.
The operation, dubbed "Fast and Furious," has put the Obama administration on the defensive, provoking questions about who knew what and when within the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Justice Department, as well as questions about... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Reuters
35021
Mexico,United States
After Mexican Scandal, Should US Feds Firearm Bureau Continue to Exist?
4 July 2011
New York Times
WASHINGTON — The last time the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was caught up in scandal, its director faced accusations of lavish spending on his new office. Before he resigned, Congress, flexing its oversight muscles, decided the Senate would confirm all future A.T.F. chiefs.
That was five years ago. Nobody has been confirmed, and the nation has been without a chief firearms inspector ever since.
Today, the bureau is again under... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: New York Times
35013
Mexico,United States
NRA Board Member Accuses UN 'Thugs, Despots' of Global Gun Grabbing
4 July 2011
Washington Times, Opinion
The despots, thugs, scoundrels, punks and various crooks at the United Nations have it all wrong again. Imagine that. Though the details have yet to be released, the U.N. wants to try to force strict small-arms control on the world under the pretense (lie) that such restrictions will make it tougher for terrorists and other assorted subhuman scum to get their hands on guns.
How is that working in Mexico, boys and girls?
If the U.N. had a clue or truly cared about... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Washington Times
35012
Mexico,United States
NRA Board Member Accuses UN 'Thugs, Despots' of Global Gun Grabbing
4 July 2011
Washington Times, Opinion
The despots, thugs, scoundrels, punks and various crooks at the United Nations have it all wrong again. Imagine that. Though the details have yet to be released, the U.N. wants to try to force strict small-arms control on the world under the pretense (lie) that such restrictions will make it tougher for terrorists and other assorted subhuman scum to get their hands on guns.
How is that working in Mexico, boys and girls?
If the U.N. had a clue or truly cared about... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Washington Times
35011
United States,Mexico
US Gun Law Needed to Combat Arms Trafficking to Mexico Drug Cartels
30 June 2011
Washington Post
The ranking Democrat on the House committee investigating the controversial federal gun-trafficking operation known as Fast and Furious accused its Republican chairman on Wednesday of stifling discussion of whether U.S. gun laws have contributed to the violence in Mexico.
A report released Wednesday by Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) said weak laws impede federal firearms agents trying to counter gun trafficking by Mexican drug cartels. It criticizes Rep. Darrell Issa... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Washington Post
34998
United States,Mexico
Gun Lobby Cripples US Agency in Charge of Tracking Down Illegal Guns
27 June 2011
Washington Post, Editorial
The gun rights lobby has spent considerable time and energy in pursuit of one goal: crippling the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). It has largely succeeded — and with dire consequences.
Concerned to the point of paranoia about the erosion of the constitutional right to keep and bear arms, the National Rifle Association and far too many lawmakers have fought against virtually every proposal to empower the bureau to better track and crack down... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Washington Post
34988
United States,Mexico
US Gun Agency and Congress Responsible for Firearm Tracing Failure
27 June 2011
Los Angeles Times, Editorial
The agency failed in a border operation that let guns fall into criminals' hands. But Congress has failed to adopt sensible laws to prevent mass 'straw purchases' of arms destined for use in crimes.
A congressional subcommittee has spent much of the last month investigating how a border security operation code named "Fast and Furious" allowed hundreds of guns to fall into the hands of criminals on both sides of the Mexican border.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Los Angeles Times
34984
United States,Mexico
With Gun-running Scandal, Now's the Time to Target US Gun Control
24 June 2011
Guardian (UK)
When Republican chairman of the House oversight and government reform committee, Representative Darrel Issa, called for the resignation of ATF acting director Kenneth Melson, few in American political circles found it controversial. Melson, after all, was responsible for overseeing the ATF's botched gun-tracking operations that led to the trafficking of thousands of weapons into Mexico and countless consequent deaths – including that of US customs agent Brian... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Guardian (UK)
34982
Canada,United States,Mexico
US Gun-running Program Flaw Relies on Great Number of Mexican Deaths
22 June 2011
National Post (Toronto), Opinion
These are not halcyon days for the unique American combination of extreme drug prohibition and extreme firearms permissiveness. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is enduring its biggest scandal since Waco over an anti-drug operation very inappropriately titled "Fast and Furious." In a nutshell, ATF agents watched carefully as people in Arizona bought massive quantities of legal weapons (notably AK-47 assault rifles), knowing they'd be smuggled across the... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: National Post (Toronto)
34979
United States,Mexico
Did Ill Fated US Gun Running Sting Kill Mexicans, Damage War on Drugs?
21 June 2011
Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON -- Fast and Furious – not the movie franchise, but the US government's ill-fated undercover gun-running operation targeting Mexican drug cartels – ended up putting more guns in the hands of criminals on both sides of the US-Mexico border.
It deepened a rift between the US and Mexico over weapons flowing south, caused a major scandal in the Justice Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which hatched the operation in 2009,... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Christian Science Monitor
34967
United States,Mexico
Hypocrisy, Locked and Loaded: US Floods Mexico with Assault Weapons
20 June 2011
New York Times, Editorial
If Congressional Republicans are really intent on getting to the bottom of an ill-conceived sting operation along the border by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, they should call President Felipe Calderón of Mexico as an expert witness.
Mr. Calderón has the data showing that the tens of thousands of weapons seized from the Mexican drug cartels in the last four years mostly came from the United States. Three out of five of those guns were... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: New York Times
34976
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