National borders don't stop U.S. guns going into Mexico either.
As immigrants flow across US border, American guns go south
By LISA MARIE PANEOctober 1, 2018
1 of 4 FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2011, file photo, a cache of seized weapons that were to be smuggled into Mexico is displayed in Phoenix. Among the thousands of immigrants who have been coming across the U.S.-Mexico border in recent months, many are seeking to escape gang and drug violence raging in their homelands. The weapon of choice used to intimidate them is often an American-made gun. Gun-control advocates and some experts say the very violence that immigrants are fleeing is carried out by American guns that are smuggled over the border. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
Among the thousands of immigrants who have been coming across the U.S.-Mexico border in recent months, many are seeking to escape gang and drug violence raging in their homelands. The weapon of choice used to intimidate them? Often an American-made gun.
While the flow of drugs and immigrants into the U.S. has been well-documented for decades and become a regular part of the political debate, what is often overlooked is how gangs and drug cartels exploit weaknesses at the border to smuggle guns from the U.S. into Latin America.
A 2013 report by the University of San Diego says the number of firearms smuggled from the United States was so significant that nearly half of American gun dealers rely on that business to stay afloat. On average, an estimated 253,000 firearms each year are purchased in the United States expressly to be sent to Mexico, the report said, the vast majority of the sales originating in the border states of California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
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