Mexican Drug War Being Fought With American Guns

75% of tested cartel guns come from border states
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 8, 2010 5:58 AM CDT
US Guns Litter 90% of Mexican Crime Scenes
Guns and ammunition sit in front of handcuffed members of a drug cartel named El Milenio during a presentation to the press in Guadalajara, Mexico.   (AP Photo/Carlos Jasso)

A significant number of people killed in Mexican drug cartel violence since 2006 may have been killed with guns bought in US border states, according to a report based on data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco. The report—prepared by the advocacy group Mayors Against Illegal Guns—found that of the guns recovered from crime scenes and submitted for testing, 90% came from the US, with 75% coming from Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California.

Texas alone supplied 40% of those guns, ABC News notes. The report found that on a per capita basis, far fewer of the tested guns came from California, which has strict laws aimed at deterring illegal gun trafficking, than from the other three border states, which lack such measures. Mexican President Felipe Calderon has urged the US to help stop the flow of guns, saying that while he understands the purpose of the Second Amendment, "many of these guns are not going to honest American hands." (More Second Amendment stories.)

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