Mexican Criminals Tap Texas for Guns in Drug Wars

Mexican criminals obtain more guns from Texas than any other state to inflict violence and death in their drug wars. More than 60,000 U.S. guns, including high-powered assault rifles and armor-piercing .50 caliber weapons, have been recovered in Mexico in the past four years, an investigation by The Washington Post reveals. The year-long investigation found that eight of the top 12 dealers whose guns have made their way to Mexico were in Texas, three in Arizona, and one in California.

Houston is a top source because “you can go to a different gun store for a month and never hit the same gun store,” Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent J. Dewey Webb told  the Post. Houston has 300 gun retailers, according to the Post.

Although the stream of guns from the United States to Mexico is not new, Webb said, the trend toward more powerful and assault weapons is, the Post reported.

In 2003, Congress passed a law that banned the release of gun tracing data. Nonetheless, the Post also revealed that a store in Columbus, Ohio, led the nation in selling guns that were linked to crimes later.