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SALT LAKE CITY — Mexico has some of the strictest gun laws in the world for its citizens, but a new study released Monday shows a significant increase in gun-related violence since 2006. And much of that may be a result of guns smuggled into the country from the United States.
In a study conducted by four scholars at the University of San Diego's Trans-Border Institute and the Igarape Institute, a research center in Brazil, approximately 2.2 percent of all firearms manufactured in the United States are being smuggled across the border into Mexico.
While tracking the actual numbers is difficult to determine, researchers estimate that an average of 253,000 firearms were purchased in the U.S. to be trafficked over 2010-2012, which is significantly higher than the 88,000 firearms smuggled in 1997-1999 — when the Federal Assault Weapons Ban was in effect. The numbers, researchers say, are "higher than previously assumed."
"The large number of guns available in the United States is facilitated by a widespread availability of retail firearm licenses, permissive import regulations, and largely unregulated, owner-to-owner 'kitchen-table' sales," the study says. "This ensures that many types of low- and high-caliber firearms, ammunition, and explosives are legally available for purchase in the United States.
"The fact is that the United States can no longer externalize the costs of inadequate firearms regulation. Given the sheer quantity of arms flowing across the border to Mexico, the United States must assume a shared responsibility to act."
"Moreover, the fact that only 5% of all registered gun dealers in the United States are inspected annually, suggests that there are few checks against illicit practices such as sales to 'straw purchasers,' who buy guns for the purpose of illegal resale or trafficking," the study continues.
Additionally, researchers found that U.S. manufacturers gain from and rely upon the sales of many of the firearms that cross the border. During 2010-2012, the U.S. firearm industry brought in an annual revenue of approximately $127.2 million, which is nearly four times higher than during 1997-1999 when the firearm industry brought in $32 million.
While not necessarily advocating for a return to the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, the researchers found that the expiration of the ban led to an increase in the homicide rate in Mexico.
"(T)he expiration of the AWB is responsible for a rise of at least 16.4% in the homicide rate in Mexico over the 2004-2008 period," the study says. "Moreover, homicide rates across the border from California, where assault weapons sales continued to be banned after 2004, remained relatively low."
Prior to 2006, Mexico had seen a 50-year decline in homicide rates until seeing a significant surge in intentional violence after 2006. "(W)hile estimates of intentional death are contested in Mexico, a recent study detected as many as 120,000 homicides in Mexico from 2007 through 2012, and an estimated 60,000 of these were organized-crime-style homicides that frequently involved the use of high-powered firearms imported illegally from the United States."
The researchers admit some of their findings may be incorrect based on the difficulty of obtaining exact numbers, but they said their figures may also be conservative and the issue could be far greater.
Nevertheless, the findings will likely be controversial in the growing gun-control debate.
Addressing the recent shootings in Aurora, Colorado and Newtown, Connecticut, the researchers said future discussions should consider the study and that "smarter solutions are required."
"The fact is that the United States can no longer externalize the costs of inadequate firearms regulation," the study says. "Given the sheer quantity of arms flowing across the border to Mexico, the United States must assume a shared responsibility to act."
