Crime: 70% of Arms Seized, Traced in Mexico Came from US

About 70% of the guns seized in Mexico and submitted to a U.S. gun-tracing program came from the United States, according to a report released by three U.S. senators Monday.

The ATF said the remainder of the weapons total — 8,780 arms — were of undetermined origin due to insufficient information provided.

Evidence that U.S. weapons trafficking has been fueling a bloody drug war that has cost more than 35,000 lives in Mexico since late 2006 has angered many Mexicans.

I accuse the U.S. weapons industry of (responsibility for) the deaths of thousands of people that are occurring in Mexico, Calderon said. It is for profit, for the profits that it makes for the weapons industry.

The report, issued by Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and two other senators, recommended background checks for sales at gun shows, a ban on the import of nonsporting weapons and the reinstatement of the assault weapons ban in force in the United States until 2004.

Calderon endorsed calls for reinstating the ban on domestic sales of assault rifles, saying its expiration in 2004 may have played a roll in the increase of drug violence in Mexico.

You can clearly see how the violence began to grow in 2005, and of course it has gone on an upward spiral in the last six years, Calderon said.

For more, see Us Report: 70% of Arms Seized, Traced in Mexico Came from Us, June 13, 2011 at The Washington Post.