The proliferation of guns in the United States has not only led to frequent gun violence in the country, but also illegal guns from the United States have flowed into Latin America, worsening social security in other countries.

On the 22nd local time, Mexican Foreign Minister Bárcena said that more and more U.S. military weapons are flowing into Mexico, and Mexico requires the United States to conduct an urgent investigation into related issues.

　　Mexico asks U.S. to cooperate in investigation into military weapons smuggling

Mexican Foreign Minister Bárcena:

One important thing is that the Mexican Ministry of Defense has reminded the United States about the flow of weapons into Mexico, and these weapons are used by the U.S. military.

There is an urgent need to investigate this.

　　According to Reuters, the United States will send a delegation to Mexico early next month to discuss this issue.

　　In June last year, the Mexican military stated that since the end of 2018, they had seized at least 221 machine guns, 56 grenade launchers, etc. These weapons are prohibited from being sold to ordinary people in the United States.

　　On the 22nd, an appeals court in Boston, USA, reinstated the lawsuit filed by Mexico against American gun manufacturers.

　　In 2021, the Mexican government filed lawsuits against multiple U.S. gun manufacturers and sought $10 billion in compensation.

The Mexican government accuses these companies of fueling the flow of illegal weapons into Mexico and resulting in widespread bloody violence.

But in September 2022, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts dismissed the lawsuit.

The Mexican government did not accept the ruling and appealed.

　　A large number of weapons are smuggled from the United States into Mexico and are deeply affected

　　Mexico is a country that strictly controls guns, but guns smuggled from the United States continue to flow into Mexico, causing serious harm to Mexico.

　　According to estimates by the Mexican government, 70% of the weapons flowing into Mexico come from the United States.

Mexican government data also shows that more than 500,000 guns are smuggled into Mexico from the United States every year.

　　Influx of weapons smuggling fuels deadly violence in Mexico.

According to US media reports, 70% to 90% of the guns recovered from crime scenes in Mexico can be traced back to the United States.

　　According to data released by the Mexican Ministry of Defense, between 2010 and May 2020, the Mexican military seized nearly 125,000 weapons, including machine guns, grenade launchers, and tens of thousands of pistols and rifles.

　　The Mexican government estimates that criminal organizations have caused losses of up to $15 billion using weapons smuggled into Mexico from the United States.

　　How are U.S. weapons smuggled into Mexico?

　　The flow of U.S. firearms into Mexico is a long-standing problem.

In September last year, a documentary in the US media exposed a nationwide network of American guns flowing into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.

　　In March 2023, a kidnapping case attracted national attention.

Four U.S. citizens from South Carolina went to Mexico to get plastic surgery.

They were kidnapped by drug traffickers in the Mexican border city of Matamoros, and two of them were shot to death.

Survivor Eric Williams:

They jumped out and tried to escape and were shot down.

I ran out of the driver's side and both legs were shot.

　　Investigators discovered that one of the semi-automatic pistols used by the drug dealers was purchased under the name of an American.

Court documents show that an American purchased the gun at a pawn shop in Brownsville, Texas.

There are tens of thousands of guns like this purchased by Americans and ultimately found in the hands of Mexican drug cartels.

CBS INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT STEPHEN STOCKER:

Texas is not the only source of these guns.

Take a look at this map, where each red dot marks a gun purchase directly linked to drug cartel gun violence in Mexico.

Let's take a closer look at the Chicago area. You can see that this area is all marked in red.

Many red dots mean many purchase records.

　　How does this arms smuggling network work?

The documentary said that when drug cartels want to buy guns, they will call their accomplices in the United States. These people will use money to run errands to buy guns and ammunition, and then hand over the items to so-called "agents." The goods are then handed over to the delivery person, who then smuggles them into Mexico and hands them over to drug traffickers.

Excerpt from the documentary "Armed Drug Trafficking":

I just took out this 9mm pistol wrapped in plastic sheeting from the car's gas tank, and gasoline was still dripping down.

The vehicle contained an AR-15 rifle hidden under the back seat.

CBS

News Correspondent Adam:

The drug cartel leaders we've met say they can have whatever weapons they want.

One person even said he could get it within 24 hours.

This criminal network is so stubborn.

People in the United States who help drug cartels buy and transport guns come from all walks of life.

There are people of all ages and races, and they’re all over the country.

　　Not only do some people buy guns for drug cartels, there are also people who assemble guns for drug cartels.

In 2021, Andrew Pierson, an American man from Oklahoma, was sentenced to 12 years in prison because his factory assembled hundreds of guns for two Mexican drug cartels.

Edwin Star, a retired official with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives:

He organized people to smuggle gun parts across the border and then assembled them in a secret factory in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, for drug cartels.

　　Faced with such a serious problem, what has the U.S. government done?

The U.S. Government Accountability Office, an agency of the U.S. Congress, released a report in September 2023 stating that since 2008, the U.S. government has spent $3 billion, purporting to help Mexico combat social problems such as drug and gun trafficking.

However, the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the U.S. government was unable to prove that the money had any tangible effects.

CBS News Correspondent Adam:

Our sources in law enforcement are concerned that government agencies are simply not doing enough.

The current strategy has shifted from taking down entire criminal networks to a "whack-a-mole" operation, where border law enforcement agencies simply increase their efforts to intercept smuggled guns at the border.

Gun interceptions at the border are indeed increasing, but that doesn't necessarily mean success.

On the one hand it may be true that we have cracked down on the gun smuggling problem, but on the other hand perhaps it is precisely because the problem is getting worse that we are intercepting more and more guns.

　　(CCTV News Client)