Foreign Policy

Press Clips: “Slowing the Flow of Smuggled U.S. Guns Into Mexico”

On Thursday, May 31st, NDN/NPI held a forum with Congressman Adam Schiff of California and Mexico’s Ambassador to the U.S. Arturo Sarukhan, about tougher penalties against the illegal southbound flow of guns from the US into Mexico, a country where owning a gun of any kind is illegal. Below are a handful of press clips.

Janell Ross – Huffington Post Latino “Mexico Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan Says U.S. Guns Fuel Violence, Denies Mexico Is Infringing Upon Gun Rights”

Dan Freedman – San Antonio Express-News and Houston Chronicle “Mexican ambassador calls 2nd Amendment fears 'gobbledygook'”

Jordy Yager – The Hill  “Mexican official: Fast and Furious 'poisoned' public opinion of US”

Jaime Goldberg – Los Angeles Times “Mexico left in the dark on Fast and Furious, ambassador says”

Douglas Stalin - USA Today  “Envoy: Mexicans upset over botched U.S. gunrunning scheme”

UPI- Envoy: "Mexico was not in gun-sting loop"

Notimex –  “Impactan en México leyes laxas sobre armas: Sarukhán”

Diego Urdaneta   Agence France-Presse  “México espera fin de investigación de escándalo de armas en EEUU (embajador)”   

WATCH LIVE TODAY: Event 12:15 p.m. Slowing the Flow of Smuggled U.S. Guns Into Mexico

If you are in DC,please come today to the US Capitol for a forum in which NDN/NPI's "21st Century Border Initiative," will convene ways to stop the illegal southbound flow of guns from the US into Mexico, a country where owning a gun of any kind is illegal.  Joining us will be Congressman Adam Schiff of California and the Mexican Ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan.  The forum will take place at 2456 Rayburn House Office Building, and run from 12:15pm to 1:30pm. 

You can RSVP here or you can watch live this event online here. This link will go live at 12:15.

Guns smuggled from the United States into Mexico are contributing to the rise in drug cartel violence in our southern neighbor.  A recent Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) study found fully 68,000 guns of 99,000 confiscated by law enforcement agencies in Mexico originated in the United States.

Among the topics sure to be discussed at our May 31st forum is the success of the Administration's Multiple Sales Reporting (MSR) program which has required more complete reporting of multiple "long gun" sales in border states, and a new bill, the "Straw Purchaser Penalty Enhancement Act," authored by Rep. Schiff, which creates a two-year prison sentence for so-called "straw purchasers" who currently receive probation or very little jail time for acquiring weapons under false pretenses and then selling them to Mexican gun smugglers.
We hope you will be able to join us for this important and timely event.

Invite Reminder: Thursday, May 31st - Slowing the Flow of Smuggled U.S. Guns Into Mexico

Guns smuggled from the United States into Mexico are contributing to the rise in drug cartel violence in our southern neighbor.

Please join us on May 31st, NDN/NPI's "21st Century Border Initiative," will convene a forum in the US Capitol looking at whether there is more we can do in the US to stop this illegal southbound flow of guns into Mexico, a country where owning a gun of any kind is illegal. Below are three facts about gun smuggling into Mexico to help you understand the dynamics of this debate:

  • The U.S. and Mexican governments share information to identify the source of firearms. Mexico has provided the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) information on 99,691 guns. This agency determined that 68 percent of those weapons came from the U.S. 
  • Trade of American firearms to Mexico continues to grow. The number of all types of ATF-traced firearms manufactured in the U.S. or imported into the U.S. and later recovered in Mexico rose from 11,842 in 2007 to 14,504 in 2011.
  • The Straw Purchaser Penalty Enhancement Act proposed by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Ca.) imposes tough new penalties on people who buy guns in order to sell them to third unauthorized purchasers and it would give federal agents new tools to crack down on the flow of weapons across the Southwest border into Mexico.

Joining us will be Congressman Adam Schiff of California and the Mexican Ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan.  The forum will take place at 2456 Rayburn House Office Building, and run from 12:15pm to 1:30pm.  You can RSVP here.

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