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Mexican officials say that assault weapons smuggled into Mexico from the United States have fueled the drug cartels' war against their government. Enhanced firepower has enabled drug lords to maintain their strong territorial foothold, despite the deployment of over 45,000 Mexican troops to combat rampant drug violence. The Mexican ambassador to the United States suggests that it would help restore law and order in Mexico if the United States Congress renewed the assault weapons ban.

The assault weapons ban outlawed the purchase of military-style firearms such as AK-47s. President Bill Clinton signed it into law in 1994, with a clause requiring congressional reauthorization after ten years. Congress allowed the legislation to expire in 2004, bowing to pressure from gun ownership rights groups like the National Rifle Association (NRA). Individual states have since attempted to enact assault rifle bans in lieu of federal restraints, but many of the laws are riddled with loopholes that drug smugglers take advantage of along the Mexican-United States border.

The Mexican government is correct in its assertion that assault weapons are a key component of the drug trade equation. In simple mathematic terms, illicit drugs equal guns and cash. American assault weapons embolden the drug cartels. American cash finances the production of the illicit drugs smuggled north across the border.

What Mexico officials fail to comprehend is the incendiary issue of gun control that continues to plague the United States. If any President were to impose a gun control mandate, it would be Barack Obama. He continually pledged during the campaign to push for reinstatement of a federal assault weapon ban. However, Obama has so far acquiesced to political reality and failed to make good on his campaign pledge. Support for reenactment of a federal assault weapons ban is tepid in Congress, with only fifty Democrats solidly on board for a full ban.

In response to American political realities, the Mexican government should lobby President Obama to pursue two measures that curtail the transportation of assault weapons across the Mexican border. First, emphasize the prosecution of gun smugglers who legally purchased assault weapons in the United States. This means cracking down at checkpoints along the border, where assault weapons inexplicably escape detection. Second, close the gun show loopholes, which permits the sale of firearms at gun shows without requiring a background check. Illegal aliens

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