US weapons are used in 40% of crimes in Central America
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According to a GAO audit, weapons included handguns, rifles, and machine guns.
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Most of the weapons come from Florida, Texas, and California (Getty Images)
According to a recent audit by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and reported by The Washington Times, thousands of weapons produced or purchased in the United States are used in crimes in Central America. Half of the weapons are smuggled in, while the rest are legally sold and rerouted into criminal hands.
Most firearms that ended up in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras came from Florida, Texas, and California.
GAO investigators evaluated 27,240 tracing requests filed by these nations to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) between 2015 and 2019. According to the GAO, ATF discovered that around 40 percent of the firearms were made in the US, with the remainder coming from 39 other countries.
Some bordering nations claim that the US is the source of many of the illicit guns they discover.
Despite Vice President Kamala Harris's efforts to curve illegal immigration from Central America, federal agencies do not prioritize US guns sent to the region. The Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs admits it lacks sufficient information on the circumstances in those countries and plans to "elevate" focus on gun trafficking.
Authorities in Central America do not hold precise data concerning how the firearms are smuggled but believe land borders are the most likely answer.
According to the US and Central American officials, weapons smuggled via ports of entry often come in batches of one or two firearms.
Mexico says US arms manufacturers deliberately enable firearm trafficking
The greatest single shipment of guns intercepted by border police consisted of only ten weapons. The countries of Central America aren't the only ones expressing concerns.
Mexico has launched a $10 billion lawsuit alleging that American manufacturers deliberately enable firearm trafficking into the hands of warring cartels, to fuel the bloodshed that has engulfed the nation over the last decade.
According to a November report by InSight Crime, which analyzes organized crime in the Americas, US weapons are also driving gang violence in Haiti.
This month, federal authorities accused a Rhode Island man of smuggling "ghost guns" to the Dominican Republic.
Robert Alcantara purchased hundreds of partly built weapons at a gun exhibition in Pennsylvania and texts were discovered on his phone detailing an attempt to organize firearm sales in the Dominican Republic.
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US Arms Fuel Cartel Violence in Mexico
