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  • Most of the illegal weapons confiscated in Mexico are transported from the U.S.

    Most of the illegal weapons confiscated in Mexico are transported from the U.S. | Photo: Reuters

Published 19 June 2016
Opinion
At a time when Democrats in the U.S. are calling for more gun control, the U.S. continues to funnel arms to Mexico in the name of fighting the drug war.

On Monday, the U.S. Senate is expected to vote on four gun control related measures in the aftermath of the deadly Orlando nightclub massacre where 49 people were gunned down.

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These gun control measures include a bill that enhances universal background checks, a bill to prevent suspects on terrorism watch lists from buying guns, a bill that would allow the U.S. Attorney General to delay a gun purchase by a known or suspected terrorist (law enforcement would determine the charge within a timeframe), and a bill that would inform the FBI of terror suspects who have purchased a gun without blocking the purchase. These measures are relatively modest and do not ban assault-style weapons or limit high-capacity ammunition. However, these measures could help stop, or at least lessen the magnitude of another mass shooting.

While these measures will face tough opposition and are unlikely to pass, there is now a chorus of Democrats urging gun curbs in the name of getting tough on national security. Last week, New York Senator Chuck Schumer said, “Every senator is now going to have to say whether they’re for terrorists getting guns or against terrorists getting guns.”

At a time when Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. are calling for more gun control in the name of national security, the U.S. continues to funnel small arms and ammunition to Mexico in the name of fighting the drug war. Last week, President Obama called for the House and Senate to pass legislation to curb access to assault style rifles, which was used in the Orlando massacre. A commonality that the U.S. and Mexico have is an increasingly militarized police force that impacts the most marginalized communities and sometimes kills innocent people.

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More than 28,000 firearms were legally transferred from the U.S. to Mexico in 2014, at a value of $21.6 million. Additional weapons have crossed the border from the U.S. into Mexico illegally. According to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), 10,488 firearms recovered from crime scenes in Mexico in 2013 could be traced back to U.S. manufacturers or sales. These numbers do not even include the hundreds of weapons that the ATF lost in Mexico with Operation Fast and Furious that allowed illegal gun sales.

In Mexico, the United Nations and  human rights groups have documented incidences of extrajudicial executions. Last year in Michoacán, at least 50 civilians died due to unlawful killings by federal police. The Mexican government response has been to deny allegations of unlawful use of force and to portray victims as aggressors. Rampant police corruption compounds human rights abuses in Mexico. A national victims’ survey by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography found that 63 percent of Mexicans expressed having little or no trust in their municipal police department, while 66 percent view them as corrupt. For the federal police force, 42 percent of Mexicans have little or no trust in the agency.

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During the Obama presidency, according to a 2014 article in The New York Times, “police departments have received tens of thousands of machine guns; nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines; thousands of pieces of camouflage and night-vision equipment; and hundreds of silencers, armored cars and aircraft.” It has been argued that the “warrior cop” is increasing violence against civilians in the U.S. A 2015 Gallup poll shows that Americans’ confidence in the police is at the lowest level since 1993 at 52 percent.

The Obama administration’s call for gun control in the U.S. is hypocritical when it has allowed weapons to flow to both corrupt Mexican law enforcement agencies and police forces at home that Americans have waning confidence in. No one knows exactly how many people police kill each year in the U.S. because the government doesn’t count how many lives are lost. Between 2007 and 2014 in Mexico, there were 165,000 documented cases of homicide (it is unknown how many of those can be traced directly to Mexican police forces). If gun control is to be truly effective, policy makers need to consider the implications of increasing the levels of arms that flow to police forces domestically and abroad while clamping down on civilian access to firearms.

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