Cartels bring assault rifles and other weapons into Mexico through strong underground supply chains, taking advantage of the country's proximity to the US' $21 billion gun and ammunition manufacturing industry and relatively lax regulations on weapons purchases. .
About 70% of Mexico's guns come from the United States, and the flow of weapons southward powers the same organizations that smuggle drugs and migrants north across the U.S. border. These groups rely on guns to maintain trade routes and protect themselves from Mexican military and police.
Over the years, these powerful criminal organizations have developed supply chains, often originating from the United States, to arm their networks. Craig Larrabee, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in San Antonio, said the transactions used to be small-scale operations, moving a few guns at a time, but in recent years the transactions have become more sophisticated.
“We're seeing a lot of firearms being smuggled in at once,” he said, adding that more than 250 weapons are being smuggled at a time. “This indicates a more systematic approach to firearms smuggling.”
Since 2020, the United States has stepped up efforts to crack down on arms flows to the south, but major challenges remain in halting this lucrative operation. It relies heavily on straw buyers — U.S. citizens with no criminal records who make initial gun purchases on behalf of criminal organizations.
“You're going to have someone buy it from a federal firearms licensee, whether it's at a gun store, a gun show, or a private sale,” Larrabee said. Weapons often cost thousands of dollars.
The gun is then typically transported to a storage location, such as a residence or a storage facility. From there, another person picks up the weapon and hides it in the car.
“It would then be smuggled and shipped to buyers in Mexico,” Larrabee said.
The developments come as political pressure mounts on the Washington administration to better control who crosses the border. U.S. agencies are working more closely with each other and with Mexican officials to better track the use of these guns and their routes from U.S. areas to cross-border sites. And under the bipartisan Safe Communities Act, the United States increased penalties for arms trafficking and straw gun purchases by people who are not authorized to own guns.
In early October, senior U.S. officials touted their efforts at a bilateral security summit in Mexico City.
“Just last month, we indicted and arrested seven defendants for purchasing more than 100 guns in Texas that were then trafficked to Mexico,” said U.S. Attorney Merrick Garland.
Also at the summit, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said firearm seizures increased by 44% last year. Southern arms control statistics for fiscal year 2023 have not yet been released.
But Mark Unger of the City University of New York said officials trying to stem the flow of guns southward are struggling with Mexico's corruption, limited agency capacity, gaps in data sharing, and insufficient data. The company is facing many challenges, including quality.
“The data from Mexican states is very poor and very corrupt,” he said. “And there is no strong capacity or political will in Mexico at the national level to hold these states accountable.”
He also said authorities lacked an understanding of the scope of this massive global supply chain, especially as international criminal groups increasingly collaborate to move arms.
“By focusing on the U.S.-Mexico border, they're getting hotspot connections in places that really matter,” he says. “But that's only part of the overall picture of arms flow.”
And the United States continues to have a healthy supply of guns available to nefarious forces.
Research firm IbisWorld predicts that the US arms and ammunition manufacturing industry will grow over the next five years. Tony Payan, a professor at Rice University, said thousands of gun shows continue to be held each year across the United States, which will also encourage the flow of weapons to Mexico.
“It's almost impossible for the bureaucracy to keep track of all these guns, all the shows, all the sales, all the private transactions,” he said.
“Mexico is not really a gun producing country. We have very strict gun regulations. So most guns can be traced back to the United States,” he said.
Craig Larrabee of the Department of Homeland Security said access to guns allows cartels to continue their underground business.
“They use firearms to control routes,” he said. “It's critical to their ability to maintain power and control the territory where they engage in the various activities they engage in to terrorize communities in Mexico, including people smuggling, drug smuggling, and extortion schemes. ”
For Josefina de León, it was cartel violence that forced her to flee her home in Mexico's northern state of Tamaulipas. Since her daughter went missing there more than a decade ago, she has worked as a crime victim advocate and watched gun violence increase.
“It's easy for people to get guns,” de León said in Spanish.
She said that despite Mexico's strict gun laws for civilians, the bloodshed is not only at the hands of the cartels, but is getting worse. There are also cases where firearms are used in cases such as domestic violence.
“This is a major industry with a lot of stakes, and it doesn't matter if people die or if people disappear,” she said.
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