Title: U.S. Firearms Trafficking to Mexico: New Data & Insights Illuminate Key Trends

Publication Date: September 2010

What does it say?

Since December 2006, an estimated 28,000 people have been killed in Mexico in drug-related killings, including 915 municipal police, 698 state police, and 463 federal agents (p. 4). Between 1999 and 2009, 32 reporters and editors were killed in Mexico, and an additional nine disappeared (p. 8). Mexico’s murder rate is approximately 7 times what it was at the beginning of the decade, and Mexico’s governance is at “serious risk” (p. 7). 

Approximately 80 percent of seized and traced guns in Mexico come from the United States. The top two firearms purchased in the U.S. and recovered in Mexico over the past three years were AK-47 type semi-automatic rifles and AR-15 semi-automatic rifle clones (p. 5).  Mexican drug traffickers are also seeking .50 BMG caliber rifles.  

The most common pathways of trafficking appear to be straw purchasers purchasing guns at dealers on behalf of brokers not eligible to purchase guns.  Gun shows are also implicated. The report states, "As private sales through gun shows and other means is an easy way for prohibited buyers to obtain firearms, it also remains critical to require private sellers to check the background of the seller and keep records of their sales" (p. 33).

One ATF official reported, “A good time to catch firearms smugglers is right after a U.S. gun show in Arizona or Texas” (p. 26).  

Most guns purchased in the last three years come from Texas and Arizona (California used to be a top supplier, but patterns appear to have shifted, perhaps in part because of California’s tighter gun laws).

How can I use it?

Use this report to advocate the strengthening of federal and state gun laws to make it easier to stop gun trafficking from corrupt and negligent licensed dealers and via straw purchases and no-check private sales, including those at gun shows.  Use it also to block gun lobby attempts to weaken our already weak laws covering licensed dealers. 

Citation

Goodman, Colby, and Michel Marizco, “U.S. Firearms Trafficking to Mexico: New Data and Insights Illuminate Key Trends and Challenges,” Working Paper Series on U.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars: Mexico Institute and the University of San Diego Trans-Border Institute, September 2010

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