WASHINGTON DC- The president of the United States, Joe Biden, acknowledged this Friday that his country sends “dangerous” firearms to Mexico, including assault rifles.
The president made these statements during a speech in which he urged the US Congress to approve measures to reduce violence related to firearms as soon as possible.
Biden revealed that Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador brings up the issue of US arms trafficking to Mexico in a coalition when he talks to him about the need to end drug trafficking, especially a powerful opioid called fentanyl.
Specifically, he began by saying: “By the way, do you know what they tell me when I talk about fentanyl, about the border and all that? I talk to the president of Mexico and he says: ‘Could you please stop sending us weapons? ‘”.
“We are sending dangerous weapons, especially assault weapons, into Mexico. They are asking us to please stop. But, my God! What are we becoming if we don’t?” he wondered, visibly outraged.
The speech was fiery in tone with continuous references to the grief of American families who have lost loved ones to gun violence. In addition, he expressed his admiration for the activists who continue to demand that the US Congress implement regulations on gun ownership.
Biden reiterated his call on Republicans, who control the US House, to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, which allow a gun wielder to kill large numbers of people without stopping to reload. bullets.
The US approved a federal ban on assault weapons in the country in 1994, but it expired in 2004 without being renewed by Congress.
López Obrador reports on a shipment that left a Chinese port and landed in Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) has increased its influence over US politics in recent decades through donations to the political campaigns of members of Congress and, with that strategy, has achieved reduce gun restrictions.
However, the US Congress approved almost a year ago with the support of Democrats and Republicans a law to regulate the possession of weapons, the most important in almost three decades.
That law did not go so far as to prohibit assault weapons as Biden wanted, but it did establish restrictions, such as limiting the purchase of weapons to those under 21 years of age and the prohibition of acquisition for those convicted of gender violence.
So far this year, firearms have claimed the lives of more than 19,500 people in the US, more than 11,000 by suicide, according to the non-profit organization Gun Violence Archieve, dedicated to counting incidents of armed violence in USA.
The Mexican government estimates that some 200,000 firearms from the US end up in Mexico each year.
