U.S. guns: The awful, shocking truth

News

U.S. guns: The awful, shocking truth

2 August 2012

The use of an AR-15-type rifle in the tragedy in Colorado has caused many to question whether it makes sense to allow the purchase of military-style assault rifles. What a lot of people don’t know is that these rifles are also the weapons of choice among ruthless Mexican drug cartels. In the last 5 years, nearly 60,000 people have lost their lives in Mexico’s wave of violence.

The brutal truth is this: 70 percent of the AR-15s and other guns used by drug lords, gangs, and kidnappers in Mexico, come from the United States.

WOLA has partnered with Cuéntame, an online community of Latino activists, to produce a short video showing how these guns are trafficked to Mexico, who profits from their sale, and what President Obama can do to stop this kind of trafficking.

Join Mexico’s peace movement and our coalition* by signing the petition at the end of the video asking President Obama to act now.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.