Ieva Jusionyte explains how firearms made and sold in the United States have played a significant role in the perpetration of violence across the border in Mexico. Mexico strictly regulates the sale of semi-automatic rifles at the federal level, but these weapons are easily available across the border in states like Texas and Arizona. Organized crime groups use funds obtained from illegal drug sales to smuggle weapons purchased in the U.S. into Mexico with devastating consequences. An estimated 200,000 to 500,000 weapons are smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border every year, and 70% of firearms recovered from crime scenes were purchased in the U.S.
Ieva Jusionyte's book "Exit Wounds: How America's Guns Fuel Violence Across the Border" was published this month by the University of California Press.