Most
of us are aware of the brutality and carnage in Mexico produced by the drug cartels.
I have falsely assumed that our US gun problem could, in part, be traced to
guns being purchased in Mexico and brought across the border. Apparently, the
reverse is true.
In
2010 Mexican President Felipe Calderon addressed a joint session of the US
Congress and said he was worried about the flow of guns from the U.S. to Mexico
— he told lawmakers the violence started to increase in his country soon after
an assault-rifle ban expired in the U.S. in 2004.
"I
will ask Congress to help us, with respect, and to understand how important it
is for us that you enforce current laws to stem the supply of these weapons to
criminals and consider reinstating the assault-weapons ban," he said.
“Over
the past three years, Mexican authorities have seized some 75,000 weapons used
in crime; 80 percent of which came from the US.”
That
same year, the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico asked the Presbyterian
Church (USA) for help.
Dear brothers and
sisters in Jesus Christ:
The National Presbyterian
Church of Mexico is worried due to the high percentage of violence that we are
living in our country today. Kidnapping and murders are there everywhere,
especially in cities such as Tijuana, Monterrey, Juarez City, Morella,
(and) Acapulco.
That is why we come to
you brothers and sisters in Christ so that you may help us according to your possibilities
in transmitting our concerns to those in charge of selling guns to Mexican
people. Since the guns are used by drug dealers to kill, and in many cases—sadly
to say—innocent people.
So as leaders of the
NPC of Mexico, we have come to the conclusion that we have to raise our voices
against violence; and together with you all, we might share the same feeling so
that our presidents may work hard to make stability a reality in our countries.
We truly appreciate
your gentle attention to this letter. [i]
[i] “Fix
Border Policy, Mexican Leader Tells U.S. Congress,” by Michele Kelemen, NPR,
6/20/10
& James Atwood, America
and Its Guns, Cascade Books, 2012, pp. 181-2
