Guns Crossing the Southern Border is a Crisis, but not in the Direction JD Vance Believes
More than 70% of guns recovered in Mexico arrive there from the U.S.
By: Devin Hughes
During last Tuesday’s Vice Presidential debate, both candidates expressed concern about America’s epidemic of gun violence, but their understanding of the root cause of the problem was vastly different.
Republican Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance blamed the problem on “a massive influx in the number of illegal guns run by the Mexican drug cartel.” While Vance is correct that guns flooding across the Southern Border is a crisis resulting in tens of thousands of deaths annually, he is very mistaken about the direction those guns are flowing.
Multiple studies and governmental reports reveal that more than 70% of guns recovered in Mexico that are used in crimes arrive there from the U.S., with hundreds of thousands of firearms trafficked annually.
Leaked Mexican intelligence documents recently revealed that tens of thousands of these guns have been directly linked to a vast network of gun stores and individuals in border states supplying cartels with lethal weaponry. These guns range from semi-automatic handguns, to assault-style rifles, to .50 caliber sniper rifles designed to take down vehicles — all of which contribute to Mexico’s gun homicide rate spiraling out of control.
This cross-border trade is so lucrative that a 2013 study found that approximately half of U.S. gun dealers are economically dependent on the demand for guns from Mexico, most of which go straight into the hands of cartels.
As such, Mexico has attempted to sue the American gun industry in an attempt to stem the flow of lethal weaponry, but thus far have faced challenges in circumventing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which provides broad legal protections against liability to the industry.
In addition to PLCAA, the weakness of American gun laws is also culpable in the mass violence in Mexico and other Latin-American countries.
Another 2013 study found that homicides spiked in Mexican communities bordering Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona following the 2004 expiration of the federal assault weapons ban, but not in those bordering California which kept its own state-level ban.
The explosion of violence over the past decades has resulted in waves of migration. Guns flood south, survivors flee north. The gun lobby profits from both the flow of guns as well as from Americans purchasing weapons out of fear of immigrants — a fear that is stoked by the gun lobby itself, as well as the head of JD Vance’s presidential ticket.
Armed with Reason, the podcast — The Epidemic of U.S. Guns Crossing the Border
Rather than migrants bringing guns north, the true culprit of illegal guns in the United States is the vast unregulated gray market of private sales, flooded by unscrupulous firearms dealers and more than 200,000 guns stolen every year.
If we want to stop the avalanche of illegal guns on American streets, the answer is stronger gun laws north of the border, not criminalizing people fleeing violence who are desperate to enter our country.
Policies such as requiring background checks on private sales, licensing, safe storage requirements, regularly inspecting gun dealers, and repealing PLCAA to ensure gun stores and manufacturers face accountability are all vastly more likely to help reduce gun deaths than deportations and a cessation of immigration.
Let’s take Vance at his word and assume he is sincere in his expressed concern about gun violence. If that is the case, rather than demonizing people seeking better lives, we need to focus on countering a root cause of both Mexico’s and the United States’ gun violence epidemic by holding the gun lobby accountable for the carnage it has aided and abetted.
Doing nothing is not an option.
Devin Hughes is the President and Founder of GVPedia, a non-profit that provides access to gun violence prevention research and data.
More on this topic from Armed With Reason: