Without mentioning the trafficking of guns into Mexico, the United States government announced measures to combat the illegal sale of weapons as a result of the constant mass shootings occurring there.
The Biden administration announced that it will take measures to contain the trafficking of illegal weapons, not because of the extreme violence that the trafficking causes in Mexico, but because of the constant mass shootings in his own country.
The White House announced that the Department of Justice will launch five cross-jurisdictional firearms trafficking strike forces within the next 30 days, to help reduce violent crime by addressing illegal gun trafficking in significant firearms trafficking corridors.
[The Department of Justice] said in a statement: “Tomorrow, the Attorney General will discuss with the President, law enforcement officials, and local and community leaders, this initiative, which, along with other measures, the Department of Justice is undertaking as part of the administration-wide comprehensive strategy to combat the rise in violent crime.”
In recent years, months, and days, massacres or “mass shootings” have become the common denominator in the everyday experience of the citizens, in part because of the tremendous ease with which weapons may be sold (or trafficked) in the U.S.
“Gun violence is a major driver in the increase in violent crime over the last 18 months, and today’s action is an important step in stemming the supply of illegally trafficked firearms which are used in deadly shootings and other violent crimes” said the [Justice Department] in a press release.
The five firearms trafficking corridors where the measures will take effect are the cities of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Washington, D.C.
In the Biden administration’s press release there is not a single mention of the firearms trafficking superhighways across his southern border, through which this American arsenal ends up in the hands of drug cartels and organized criminal groups.
The violence that afflicts Mexico, and especially its northern border, is directly linked to the weapons coming in from the United States. This violence was on full display over the weekend in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, where a number of civilians were executed as a result of such conflict.
Criminal violence in Mexico is also directly linked to the insatiable demand for and consumption of drugs in U.S. society, a problem that has been largely ignored by the governments of both countries for several decades.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland stated that stopping the trafficking of firearms nationwide is one of the most important and difficult responsibilities of the Biden administration.
Garland wrote: “Today, the department is taking another concrete step to address violent crime and illegal firearms trafficking. Our firearms trafficking strike forces will investigate and disrupt the networks that channel crime guns into our communities with tragic consequences.”
The measures will be executed in coordination with federal district attorneys, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and state authorities in the five cities designated as corridors for the trafficking of illegal firearms.
The White House emphasized that the strike forces will share information and collaborate across state or jurisdictional boundaries in the designated corridors to focus enforcement against entire trafficking networks, from the places where guns are unlawfully obtained to the areas where they are used to commit violent crimes.
In the press release from the White House and Department of Justice, there is not a single mention of the international trafficking of firearms, much less the extreme and bloody violence that afflicts Mexico as a result.
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