On April 10, 2013, a bipartisan group of senators unveiled a plan to expand background checks for commercial gun sales. Background checks for commercial gun sales could help keep firearms of out the hands of deadly drug cartels in Mexico, according to experts at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).
“Mexican drug cartels get most of their guns from the United States,” said Joy Olson, WOLA’s executive director. “The proposed reforms will help stop illegal gun trafficking to Mexico and keep guns out of the hands of dangerous drug cartels.”
According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, 70 percent of guns recovered in Mexico and submitted for tracing between 2007 and 2011 came from the United States.More than 60,000 people been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since 2006.
See four facts about gun legislation and cartel violence in Mexico.
