Gun Industry Militarization Drives Mexico Gun Trafficking [View All]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-sugarmann/gun-industry-militarizati_b_876927.html

As the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform prepares to focus Wednesday on alleged failures of the U.S. Justice Department's program to stop gun trafficking to Mexico, a new study by my organization, the Violence Policy Center (VPC)--The Militarization of the U.S. Civilian Firearms Market--explores the major force driving criminal cross-border gun trafficking from the U.S. to Mexico: the gun industry's cynical militarization of the U.S. civilian gun market.

The study finds that today militarized weapons--semiautomatic assault rifles, 50 caliber anti-armor sniper rifles, and high-capacity pistols including armor-piercing handguns--define the U.S. civilian gun market and are far and away the 'weapons of choice' of the traffickers supplying violent drug organizations in Mexico. The study also finds that the gun industry has become so dependent on militarized product lines that 11 of the top 15 gun manufacturers now market assault weapons.

In describing the industry's marketing daisy chain, the study states that "...the gun industry designs, manufactures, imports, and sells firearms in the civilian market that are to all intents and purposes the same as military arms. It then bombards its target market with the message that civilian consumers--just like real soldiers--can easily and legally own the firepower of militarized weapons."

Most Americans--the majority of whom don't own guns--would be shocked at what the gun industry has become. Forget Grandpa's shotgun and dad's hunting rifle, or, for that matter, the proverbial six-shot revolver kept in the bedroom dresser drawer. Today's gun market is military-derived weapons with virtually unlimited ammunition capacity resulting in heightened lethality. The common bloodline is a military pedigree.

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