Border war in Mexico fueled by U.S. guns

When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits Mexico this week to discuss the drug-related violence that left 6,200 dead there last year and is now spreading across the U.S. border, she should be told in unmistakable terms: Stop the trafficking of U.S. guns that is fueling the bloodshed.

Clinton is scheduled to go to Mexico on Wednesday amid an outcry by increasingly out-of-control Mexico-bashing hotheads on U.S. cable television — yes, I’m talking about CNN’s Lou Dobbs, and Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck — who are presenting the border violence as if it were an all-Mexican problem, neglecting to mention that drug cartels are thriving thanks to America’s voracious drug consumption and lax U.S. gun laws.

Mexico’s drug cartels generate between $17 billion and $38.3 billion a year from their cocaine, heroin, and marijuana sales in the United States, according to the U.S. National Drug Intelligence Center. And the drug cartels are getting more than 90 percent of their weapons from the United States, officials on both side of the border say.

Military-style weapons

What’s worse, the Mexican drug cartels are buying increasingly powerful military-style weapons, such as Colt AR-15 and AK-47 assault rifles.

“Firearms obtained from the United States are helping fuel the drug violence in Mexico,” said Kristen Rand, of the Violence Policy Center, a gun control advocacy group, at a congressional panel last week. “It is also clear that military-style firearms, both imported and domestic, are the drug cartels’ weapons of choice.”

In other words, we are supplying the Mexican drug cartels with war weapons. Unlike standard sporting firearms, these semi-automatic guns have grips that allow them to be “spray-fired” from the hip, and have the ability to accept detachable ammunition magazines holding up to 100 bullets.

So what should be done?, I asked Rand after the hearings. Among her suggestions:

UStop imports into the United States of AK-47-styled assault weapons, many of which end up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels.

Critics say the Bush administration did not fully enforce a 1989 ban on foreign assault weapons imports, allowing growing numbers of these guns to end up in U.S. gun shops.

“Unfortunately, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has allowed the ban to collapse and has even helped to create loopholes to circumvent it, such as allowing importers to bring foreign-made assault weapons into the country in parts,” Rand said.

UPass legislation effectively to ban domestic production of assault weapons, such as AR-type assault rifles, which are now hot sellers in gun shops. A 1994 law banning assault weapons has been rendered ineffective by loopholes that allow production of “copycat” guns.

UCrack down on sales of assault weapons at gun shows. While gun shop dealers have federal licenses that require them to do background checks on their customers, sellers at gun shows in most states can do business without these licenses, and thus without performing background checks. This means that drug cartel members can walk into a gun show, and basically buy whatever they want, no questions asked.

Why doesn’t anybody stop this craziness?, I asked Rand.

“The gun lobby won’t let them,” she said. “The ATF, members of Congress, the entire federal government is being held hostage by the gun lobby because its followers are so vocal and persistent that any little improvement in the law is characterized as gun confiscation.”

Asked about Rand’s criticism of U.S. law enforcement efforts, an ATF spokesman referred me to the Justice Department. Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney sent me an e-mail stating, “ATF enforces the federal firearms laws, including the imports ban.”

My opinion: The Obama administration, which seems to be more conscious of the need to crack down on the U.S. assault weapons’ trade than its predecessor, should more forcefully enforce gun import laws and try to pass new laws curbing U.S. assault weapons.

X Andres Oppenheimer is a Latin America correspondent for the Miami Herald. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.