Weapons Traffic: New Data and Insights Illuminate Key Trends and Challenges

Here is a report from the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center.


U.S. Firearms Trafficking to Mexico: New Data and Insights Illuminate Key Trends and Challenges: New information shows that a significant amount of military-style assault rifles, other types of rifles and pistols come directly from the United States and are being used by Mexican DTOs. According to the Mexican government in May 2010, an estimated 60,000 U.S.-origin firearms were seized in Mexico from 2007 to 2009.207 


A review of U.S. prosecutions associated with ATF’s Project Gunrunner concludes that an estimated 14,923 firearms were trafficked to Mexico from FY 2005 to FY 2009; 4,976 of these firearms were from FY 2009 alone.208 And, these numbers don’t include the thousands of firearms and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition headed for Mexico that U.S. authorities have seized. Sept. 10, 2010