Gun Smuggling

A friend on facebook recently posted a Washington Post article about guns smuggling into Mexico on his newsfeed. I started reading news reports of this type of smuggling from the US to Mexico in the spring of 2009, while I was in Guatemala (incidentally, the Guatemalans I knew found it amusing that finally there was some concrete evidence that contraband moves both ways across the border). I remember learning about the problem because of a New York Times article on the subject.

Basically, Mexican officials and ATF officials are finding that many, many guns used in violent crime in Mexico can be traced to US gun shops, particularly stores in Texas and other border states. ATF investigations have found that drug cartels pay "straw" buyers to purchase guns legally in the US and these guns eventually make it across the border into Mexico, often in the hands of those who bring drugs and people north. In areas of Texas, for example, one buyer could buy 10 or 15 guns in a short period of time without visiting the same store twice, due to the abundance of gun stores in cities like Houston or Brownsville. While store owners are obligated to report the purchase of multiple handguns by the same person in a short period of time, they are not obligated to report the purchase of multiple "long guns" (rifles, assault weapons, etc.). Weapons sales at gun shows and private sales of weapons don't even require the seller to record the name of the purchaser.

This particular article Washington Post article is interesting for many reasons, but I wanted to write about a few particular things.

There is a fascinating section in the report about the reaction of the National Rifle Association to claims that a large portion of guns used in acts of criminal violence (especially drug cartel violence) in Mexico come from the US.

The foundation [National Shooting Sports Foundation] and the National Rifle Association aggressively challenge statistics that show 80 to 90 percent of the weapons seized in Mexico are first sold in the United States, calling the numbers highly inflated. After being criticized by the gun lobby, ATF stopped releasing such statistics this year.

"To suggest that U.S. gun laws are somehow to blame for Mexican drug cartel violence is a sad fantasy" said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action.

Cox said guns are coming to Mexico from other Central American countries and from former Mexican soldiers who have U.S. weapons and are now working for the cartels.

ATF disagreed, saying the biggest factors are the high number of dealers along the border and the convenient location.

Grimaldi, James V. and Sari Horwitz (2010) "As Mexico Drug Violence Run Rampant, U.S. Guns tied to Crime South of Border" Washington Post. December 13 

First, why do Mexican soldiers have US weapons? Does he mean guns are supplied to the Mexican military by the US? I don't that much about the Mexican case, so I am unsure if there is the same kind of problem of former soldiers keeping their weapons even thought they are no longer part of the military in Mexico as there is in Central America.

Second, while I wouldn't be surprised if there are some Central American weapons floating around Mexico, I am skeptical as to the extent of this problem, particularly along the northern border. Granted, there really isn't much stopping smuggling of drugs, people, or other kinds of contraband along the Guatemalan border with Mexico, but I wonder how much of this is guns. A cursory Google search turned up almost no information about gun smuggling in Central America.  A working paper from the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center at the University San Diego suggests a few reasons why the NRA spokesman may be mistaken in his assertion that guns are coming primarily from Central America: (1) an assault rifle like an AK-47 is more expensive and lower quality in Central America, and (2) guns that do come from Central America often originate in the US--these are not guns left over from Central American civil wars, but weapons that are smuggled into Central America from the US on their way to Mexico. Hand grenades and rocket-propelled grenades, however, appear to be coming from Central America.

Also, they article recounts the dismissal of a case against a gun store owner accused of knowingly selling guns to straw buyers working for Mexican drug cartels. I am not a lawyer nor a judge, so I can't really speak to the judge's ruling (basically that the defendant's lawyers were able to show that the ATF's witnesses weren't credible and that the prosecution was "overcharging" the defendant, who could only be proven to have committed a misdemeanor). But the quotation the journalists include in the article is very interesting:

About guns going to Mexico from the United States, the judge said: "It is a terrible problem. They have to do something about it."

Grimaldi, James V. and Sari Horwitz (2010) "As Mexico Drug Violence Run Rampant, U.S. Guns tied to Crime South of Border" Washington Post. December 13 

Who are they? The Mexican authorities? The ATF? Does the judge think that the US legal system does not have a role in this drama? Is this something that the US should be pursuing? I would argue that this is something that we should be worried about. Yes, the Mexican authorities should also working on this problem (just as we should be working on the problem of drug trafficking), but this flow of weapons into Mexico from the US is not just a Mexican problem. What in the world does the average US citizen need with such open access to AK-47s? I've read the NRA's arguments as to why we should not have a ban on so-called "assault weapons," but I am not a hunter or a gun enthusiast and am still ignorant as to whether or not people really use these types of weapons to hunt or whether they are truly helpful as a measure of self-defense. A friend of mine in Guatemala once told me about why he stopped carrying a gun. Concealed handguns (legal and illegal) are pretty common in Guatemala, and I know more than a few people who carry guns for protection. My friend told me he stopped carrying his gun the day after he actually used it to defend himself--long story short, he was almost killed in a gun fight in the street with a thief who was robbing his neighbor (I didn't quite get him to tell me who started shooting first). He told me that carrying a gun made him more likely to use it, and by using it he put himself in more danger than he would have been otherwise. Obviously, this is just one story of many (there is a fascinating This American Life episode about gun control), but it resonates with me.

If you are interested in arms trafficking in Mexico and Central America, here is a great source for articles on the subject.