50 US Lawmakers want Obama to ban certain firearms because of Mexican Drug Cartels

MEXICO CITY – More than 50 U.S. lawmakers sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to enforce a ban on importing assault weapons, saying many such guns are later smuggled south to arm Mexico's ruthless drug cartels.

"They come to the United States from Europe and other places, and they make their way down to Mexico," Rep. Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat, told reporters in Mexico City on Wednesday.

The ban was implemented under the administrations of President George H.W. Bush and President Bill Clinton, and the U.S. government can enforce it under provisions of the 1968 Gun Control Act.

But the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, has quietly abandoned the ban in recent years, the lawmakers said in their letter. The ATF declined to comment.

"As a result, the civilian firearms market is flooded with imported, inexpensive military-style assault weapons from primarily former Eastern bloc countries including Romania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia," the letter said.

All 53 lawmakers who signed were Democrats.

The ATF estimates that 90 percent of weapons seized in Mexico come from sources within the United States. Mexico has long demanded that the U.S. do more to stop the flow of weapons south, and Obama has pledged to step up those efforts. Congress included $10 million in the economic stimulus package approved last week for the ATF's Project Gunrunner, which targets gun-trafficking networks in the U.S.

Mexico's drug violence has rapidly escalated despite President Felipe Calderon's deployment of 45,000 soldiers across the country to fight cartels. Drug gangs behead their rivals and attack police on a near daily basis, especially in cities near the U.S. border. Last year, more than 6,000 people were killed in drug violence, double the previous year's rate.

Mexican police frequently complain of being outgunned by drug gangs. In some small towns, entire police forces have quit in terror following attacks on their colleagues.

On Tuesday, federal police fighting gunmen in the northern border city of Reynosa had to call the army for help. After the fighting, which left five gunmen dead and seven police injured, authorities seized several assault rifles and even a 60 mm mortar.

In a recent report, the federal Attorney General's Office said Mexican authorities have seized the most weapons from the Gulf drug cartel and its gang of hit men, known as the "Zetas." Members of the cartel have been found with rocket launchers, grenade launchers, and weapons capable of piercing armor.

The article

The actual letter sent to Obama.

Even Carolyn "The shoulder thing that goes up" McCarthy got her signature in there..
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Comments to consider- (FYI- these are NOT my words, but I found this argument interesting) The following illustrates two issues which these 50 lawmakers fail to address.

1. Border Security

If we actually enforced our borders, the gun trafficking across the border would be drastically cut down. There is NO mention AT ALL of increased border security in the letter to Obama, just a ban on imported firearms.

2. Gun bans don't work

Mexico has VERY strict gun control laws, it is very difficult to obtain a permit to buy a firearm legally in the country. Even with the strict gun control, they are still having issues with firearms.. More gun control does not mean less gun violence.

Now.....
The comments about 90% of the mexican weapons coming from the United states..
The US is #2 in the world for small arms exports, second to Russia. It would make sense that the US, a country that supplies 30% of the worlds small arms annually, would be the source of most of the weapons in a bordering country.

Now you could blame the US background check process for the flow of guns.. straw purchases, etc.. The failure here is NOT the background checks and it's not that the US has too lax of a purchasing process for guns.. it's the fact that some asshole can fill his truck full of guns and make it across the border into mexico without being caught.

Drugs and weapons.. lock down the border.. and I mean.. Draw the line, post the guard, shoot to kill.. Lock down the border.


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