Individual movements in Mexico and the United States to end or decrease gun violence have not had much success so far; However, there is a binational effort that could change history.
It is not uncommon to hear the news and people talk about the gun violence of the cartels in Mexico and the gun violence through mass shootings that year after year leaves thousands of fatalities and thousands of families plunged in pain in the USA.
Unfortunately, to date, most of the protests and complaints against gun violence in both countries talk about cartels, governments and corruption in Mexico, while in the United States a mass shooting is generally summarized in the actions of a “lone wolf”, a person with mental problems, but the weapons and the responsibility of those who produce and distribute them are never talked about.
A very basic question, but to date there is no answer, because we all know in the United States that if there were better gun control, those 650 mass shootings that occur annually would possibly be drastically reduced and with it, the number of victims.
The same thing happens in Mexico, if the number of weapons flowing from the United States south of the border were to decrease, we are sure that the level of violence and victims would also decrease, especially since Mexican authorities have found that of the more than 200,000 weapons that are trafficked annually to Mexico from the United States, 70% end up in the hands of drug criminals, with whom they massacre or evict populations.
That is why we applaud the binational effort of the Popular Movement for Peace and Justice (PMPJ) that brings together a coalition of organizations and families victims of violence from both countries to ask the United States Congress to approve the laws Stop the arming of the cartels and The sale of weapons.
Both projects are supported by Mexican-American politicians Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04) and Joaquín Castro (TX-20) among others, to achieve the unthinkable: reduce gun violence in both countries.
If the law The sale of weapons is approved, it is expected that there will be a mobilization of resources in the federal government to interrupt firearms trafficking from the United States, not only to Mexico, but also to Latin America and the Caribbean, it will implement more transparency, there would be better accountability and better oversight of American arms exports.
“Almost four years ago, the Trump administration worked with the National Rifle Association to relax gun export regulations and unleash a flood of American-made weapons into the Western Hemisphere,” Congressman Castro said during the initiative’s presentation at December 2023.
“As we work with our allies and partners to address shared regional challenges, including forced migration and drug trafficking, Congress must address the role of U.S. arms exports in driving violence and instability abroad.” .
While the measure Stop the arming of the cartels, introduced a few weeks ago, is based on the bipartisan Safer Communities Act. The goal is to address the sale and trafficking of firearms from the United States to transnational criminal organizations in Mexico and around the world. Additionally, it prohibits the additional sale of high-caliber rifles and establishes new avenues for victims seeking justice from manufacturers and distributors who violate U.S. laws.
Congressman Jesús García has expressed that in the US there is a lot of talk about the violence of the drug cartels in Mexico, but not enough is said about where the weapons originate.
“Gun violence is a binational problem and addressing the root causes of this violence and its interconnected effects requires a binational approach. It requires the commitment and participation of civil society, elected leaders, advocates and survivors.”
García emphasized that recently a leak of Mexican military intelligence data revealed that 78 thousand firearms recovered in Mexico came from gun stores and smugglers in the United States.
In addition, the PMPJ presented the Binational Agenda for Peace and Justice, which includes 10 proposals to stop illegal trafficking of weapons and drugs, the migratory flow, protect the environment and defend the rights of indigenous peoples.
Marco Castillo, co-executive director of Global Exchange and founding member of the PMPJ, said that weapons of war are claiming thousands of lives in the United States and Mexico each year and cannot continue to operate in a divided manner.
“There are more than 200,000 firearms entering Mexico annually from the United States, more than 110,000 missing in Mexico and more than 650 mass shootings annually in the United States; That is why we have come to Washington to make our voices heard; “The time for binational action is now.”
So we hope that the stories of Kimberly Rubio, whose nine-year-old daughter was one of the 19 children and two adults who lost their lives in Ugalde, Texas, in 2022; while Cristina Bautista, mother of Ascencio, one of the 43 students who were disappeared in 2014 by authorities and criminal groups in Mexico, echo on both sides of the border, but mainly in the United States Congress so that these two proposals are approved.
We believe with the upcoming presidential elections in the United States and the first woman elected president of Mexico, the moment is propitious to imagine that the people on both sides of the border can finally breathe the winds of peace and without so much pain and death.
Impact in Mexico
According to an official Mexican government record, more than 111,000 people in Mexico have been forcibly disappeared.
On average, six women are murdered with firearms every day in Mexico.
More than two million migrants transited through Mexico on their way to the United States last year.
A recent survey of migrants seeking asylum at the US border found that more than half had experienced “persistent and relentless shooting” before arriving in the United States.
More than 379,000 people in Mexico have been forced to flee their homes as a result of the violent conflict, as of earlier this year, with record numbers of displaced people in 2021.
Impact in the US
There have been an average of 650 mass shootings in the United States over the past four years.
As of June 2024, 224 mass shootings have been recorded.
The rise in mass shootings coincided with an overall rise in gun violence during the pandemic.
The firearm homicide rate in the United States in 2020 was the highest recorded since 1994.
In 2023, there were 43,161 victims of gun violence across all causes, according to the Gun Violence Archive