Mexico seeks US ban on assault guns

Fri, 21 May 2010 12:53:25 GMT

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=127224&sectionid=351020705

Mexican President Felipe Calderon says Washington should make efforts to stop the flow of weapons to Mexico, urging the US Congress to outlaw assault guns.

"There is one issue where Mexico needs your cooperation. And that is stopping the flow of assault weapons and other deadly arms across the border," Calderon said on Thursday addressing a joint session of Congress, Reuters reported.

Calderon attributed the skyrocketing drug violence in recent years to the 2004 lifting of a ban on assault weapons in the US.

According to the Mexican president the Central American nation has captured around 75,000 guns and assault weapons in the last three years. More than 80 percent of the arms, he said, originated from the United States. Calderon noted that there were more than 7,000 gun shops along the border.

"I would ask Congress to help us, with respect, and to understand how important it is for us that you enforce current laws to stem the supply of these weapons to criminals and consider reinstating the assault weapons ban," he said.

Since taking office in late 2006, Calderon, using the army, has waged an all-out war on drug cartels in Mexico. Since then, the drug violence has taken the lives of more than 23,000 people, with no sign of an end to the killings.