Smuggling along the U.S.-Mexico border is, quite literally, a two-way street. Much publicity has been given to American efforts to curb the flow of illegal drugs and illegal immigrants from Mexico into the United States. Less publicized is the fact that hundreds of illegal guns are smuggled from the U.S. into Mexico each day. Mexico is seeing unprecedented levels of gun violence, with 100,000 gun-related deaths in the past decade. This is all the more shocking when you consider that there is only one authorized gun dealer in all of Mexico: a heavy guarded, military-run store near Mexico City. This store actually sells very few weapons -- an average of 38 firearms per day -- but at the same time, an estimated 580 guns are smuggled in daily from the United States.
Exporting violence:
- Mexico's constitution guarantees the right to bear arms, but the government also has the power to “determine the cases, conditions, requirements and places" of gun ownership.
- In order to purchase a weapon at the army base, Mexican citizens must submit to an arduous process that includes months of background checks and reams of paperwork.
- About 70 percent of guns recovered by Mexican law enforcement officials between 2011 and 2016 were purchased from gun dealers and private sellers in the United States.