March, 09 2009, 12:00am EDT
Mexico Violence And The US As The Gun Source
The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence is issuing a background document for journalists covering the gun violence in Mexico and the policy issues surrounding how America's gun laws are helping to fuel that violence.
The paper is available at https://www.bradycenter.org/xshare/pdf/reports/mexico-us-violence-background.pdf.
WASHINGTON
The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence is issuing a background document for journalists covering the gun violence in Mexico and the policy issues surrounding how America's gun laws are helping to fuel that violence.
The paper is available at https://www.bradycenter.org/xshare/pdf/reports/mexico-us-violence-background.pdf.
"Because we make it too easy for dangerous people to get dangerous weapons, our lack of effective, common sense gun laws is helping to create a regional security risk and costing Mexican citizens their lives," said Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Center. "There are distinct and unarguable shortcomings in our gun laws that are now causing terrible problems not only in our country but also in our hemisphere."
Mexican criminals can't get guns in Mexico because the gun laws in Mexico, like those in most industrialized nations, do not allow a vast unregulated gun market, in which military-style weapons and all manner of guns are easily available to be purchased in unlimited quantity without a background check. Stymied by Mexico's tough gun laws, the drug lords and the traffickers who supply them come to the U.S. to take advantage of our gun laws' gaping loopholes.
Brady United formerly known as The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and its legislative and grassroots affiliate, the Brady Campaign and its dedicated network of Million Mom March Chapters, is the nation's largest, non-partisan, grassroots organization leading the fight to prevent gun violence. We are devoted to creating an America free from gun violence, where all Americans are safe at home, at school, at work, and in our communities.
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