Obama indicates he’ll back off support for assault weapons ban

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Confronting a Mexican drug war that is “sowing chaos in our communities,” President Barack Obama signaled Thursday he will not seek the reinstatement of a U.S. assault weapons ban but instead step up enforcement of existing laws banning the transfer of such guns across the border.

Obama had pledged during his campaign to seek renewal of the ban but has bowed to the reality that such a move would be unpopular in politically key U.S. states and among Republicans as well as some conservative Democrats.

Obama met here with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who has been conducting an aggressive fight against drug cartels and had hoped to persuade Obama to push for reinstatement.

Allies in the fight against drug cartels, Obama and Calderon took different stands on U.S. sanctions against Cuba. Calderon said the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo has not been successful in forcing Cuba to adopt democratic reforms.

“We do not believe that the embargo or the isolation of Cuba is a good measure for things to change,” the Mexican president said.

Obama pointed to the announcement this week that the U.S. was softening sanctions, allowing Americans to make unlimited transfers of money and visits to relatives in Cuba. But he said Cuba needs to reciprocate with actions that are “grounded in respect for human rights.”

Obama acknowledged that the United States shares responsibility for bloodshed and kidnappings in Mexico that have spilled across the border into the United States. Acknowledging that U.S. drug use fuels the cartels, Obama said, “I will not pretend this is Mexico’s responsibility alone.”

“We have a responsibility as well, we have to do our part,” Obama said. He said the U.S. must crack down on drug use and the flow of weapons into Mexico.

Obama also said the United States and Mexico must work together to stem the problem of illegal immigration. At the same time, he said: “My country has been greatly enriched by immigrants from Mexico.”

The two leaders also pledged to cooperate on combatting global warming and the global recession.

Mexico is the main hub for cocaine and other drugs entering the U.S., and the United States is the primary source of guns used in Mexico’s drug-related killings.

More than 10,000 people have been killed in Mexico in drug-related violence since Calderon’s stepped-up effort against the cartels began in 2006. The State Department says contract killings and kidnappings on U.S. soil, carried out by Mexican drug cartels, are on the rise as well.

Obama has dispatched hundreds of federal agents, along with high-tech surveillance gear and drug-sniffing dogs, to the Southwest to help Mexico fight drug cartels, among many other steps aimed at addressing the escalating drug war.