BILL NUMBER: SJR 10 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 1, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 15, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Senator De León
(Coauthors: Senators Hancock, Hernandez, Padilla, Pavley, and
Vargas)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Alejo, Allen, Bonilla, Bradford,
Cedillo, Davis, Eng, Roger Hernández, Hueso, Huffman, Lara, Mendoza,
Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Solorio, Swanson, and Torres)
JULY 5, 2011
Relative to firearms trafficking.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SJR 10, as amended, De León. Firearms trafficking.
This measure would urge the President and the Congress of the
United States to pursue a comprehensive approach to stem the
trafficking of illicit United States firearms into Mexico, that
includes, among other things, enhanced collaboration among local,
state, and federal agencies, the allocation of a permanent source of
federal funding to sustain local and state law enforcement operations
to combat firearms trafficking and other border-related crimes, the
redirection of federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives (ATF), United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
and United States Customs and Border Protection resources towards
this effort, reenactment of a strong federal assault weapons ban, and
stronger federal authority to crack down on corrupt gun dealers.
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, The rise of firearms trafficking from the United States
into Mexico has fueled the terrorism of both United States and
Mexican citizens by Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs),
that has devastated thousands of families who have lost loved ones to
violence on both sides of the border; and
WHEREAS, Since the start of Mexican President Felipe Calderon's
administration in December 2006, the Mexican law enforcement agencies
have confiscated 102,600 handguns and rifles as of March 10, 2011,
and Mexican security forces have seized 11,849 grenades and 10.6
million rounds of ammunition; and
WHEREAS, Violence along the United States-Mexico border has
escalated dramatically as President Calderon has aggressively fought
the growing power of Mexican DTOs and approximately 34,612 people
have been killed as a result of organized crime-related violence in
Mexico; and
WHEREAS, In a report by the United States Government
Accountability Office (GAO), United States officials note that
violence associated with Mexican DTOs poses a serious challenge for
United States law enforcement and particularly given the increased
level of criminal activity in the southwestern United States,
violence threatens the safety of citizens on both sides of the
border; and
WHEREAS, In May 2010, the Mexican government stated that of the
75,000 illegal firearms it seized in the last three years, about 80
percent--60,000 firearms--came from the United States; and
WHEREAS, Estimates of guns flowing into Mexico from the United
States are as high as 2,000 guns every day, a staggering statistic
given that Mexico has only approximately 6,000 legally registered
guns; and
WHEREAS, The United States federal
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), as of May
2010, has processed 69,808 firearm trace requests from Mexico and it
appears that a majority of these firearms have a nexus to the United
States; and
WHEREAS, There are an estimated 8,479 licensed United States gun
dealers operating along the United States-Mexico border and according
to several ATF officials, individuals or groups engage in straw
purchasing on a regular basis as part of a scheme to traffic United
States firearms into Mexico; and
WHEREAS, The ATF reports that 87 percent of firearms seized by
Mexican authorities and traced over the last five years originated in
the United States, that approximately 68 percent of these illegal
firearms were manufactured in the United States, and approximately 19
percent were manufactured in other countries and then imported into
the United States before being trafficked into Mexico; and
WHEREAS, ATF officials state that the most common method of
transporting firearms illegally across the United States-Mexico
border is by vehicle using United States highways, and that an
opportune time to catch firearm smugglers is following a United
States gun show in Arizona or Texas; and
WHEREAS, Local and state law enforcement agencies are often the
first responders to the scene of a crime, and have had to deploy and
devote ever-increasing numbers of officers, equipment, and other
resources to address the crimes associated with the DTOs and their
firearm trafficking activities; and
WHEREAS, Despite increasingly scarce resources, local and state
law enforcement agencies have implemented a proactive,
cost-effective, and successful border crime initiative that
highlights collaboration among all levels of law enforcement--local,
state, and federal--and includes the judicious leveraging and sharing
of intelligence, equipment, and personnel to combat illegal firearm
trafficking and other border-related crimes; and
WHEREAS, Since 2006, 14 United States Custom and Border Patrol
(CBP) Agents have been killed along the border of Mexico, most
recently Agent Brian Terry, who was killed on December 15, 2010, by
being shot with an AK-47; and
WHEREAS, In February 2011, ICE United
States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Jaime
Zapata was shot and killed and another federal agent was wounded in
an ambush by Mexican drug gang members at a fake military checkpoint
on a Mexican highway north of Mexico City; and
WHEREAS, DTOs have escalated the use of firearms to attack and
intimidate high level Mexican law enforcement figures, including
directors of federal agencies, politicians, journalists, businesses,
and the general public; and
WHEREAS, Mexican government officials report that since December
2006, a total of 915 municipal police, 698 state police, and 463
federal agents have been killed by Mexican organized crime groups
(OCGs) , and between 1999 and 2009, 32 news
reporters or editors were killed and an additional nine disappeared;
and
WHEREAS, On June 28, 2010, a leading Mexican gubernatorial
candidate, Rodolfo Torre Cantu, was killed by gunfire in Tamaulipas,
just days before the July 4, 2010, elections, and in late 2008,
Armando Rodriguez, a crime reporter for El Diario de Juárez, was shot
in the head by a 9mm as he drove his daughter to school; and
WHEREAS, In June 2008, Edgar Millan Gomez, acting director of the
federal preventive police was assassinated in his own home by a man
wielding two 9mm pistols one week after holding a press conference in
Cuiliacán to announce the arrests of 12 hit men working for the
Sinaloa Cartel and that same day, Roberto Velasco, one of the
directors of the federal organized crime unit, was shot and killed in
Mexico City, and the next day Jose Aristeo, chief of staff for the
federal preventive police, was shot and killed in the same city; and
WHEREAS, United States citizens have also been terrorized by the
violence associated with United States firearms trafficking and
Mexican DTOs. For example, in May 2010, a Phoenix businessman leading
a hunting expedition in Sonora, Mexico was found shot dead by an
AK-47, in February 2010, United States and Mexican citizens waiting
to cross into Mexico from Nogales, Arizona were trapped in a
firefight that erupted in the nearby plaza, in the spring of 2008
American tourists returning through the Lukeville port of entry were
trapped by gunfire while waiting in line, and a woman from Nogales,
Arizona was shot and killed by AK-47 gunfire at a fake military
checkpoint on a Mexican interstate in Sonora; and
WHEREAS, In July 2011, the United States Department of Justice
announced a new federal policy that would require all United States
gun stores in southwest border states to submit a report to ATF when
an individual purchases two or more rifles, including assault rifles,
within five business days; and
WHEREAS, Following the expiration of the Federal Assault Weapons
Ban in 2004, it has become easier to purchase high-powered assault
weapons and the United States Department of Justice, Office of the
Inspector General has reported that 48 percent of crime guns
recovered and traced in Mexico in 2009 were long guns, up from 20
percent in 2004 and recent data also shows a surge in seizures of
assault rifles and .50 caliber guns. According to the ATF, the drug
cartels tend to favor military-style assault weapons such as AK-47s,
AR-15s, and FN 5.7mm caliber pistols, known in Mexico as "cop killers"
because they can pierce body armor; and
WHEREAS, The United States is now experiencing an era in which the
number of illegal border crossings have decreased over the last
decade yet drug-related violence and the trafficking of United States
firearms into Mexico has skyrocketed; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature urges the President and the
Congress of the United States to pursue a comprehensive approach to
stem the trafficking of illicit United States firearms into Mexico,
that includes as its centerpiece enhanced collaboration among local,
state, and federal law enforcement agencies to coordinate the
interdiction of illegal firearms trafficking and the implementation
of associated border security policies and operations in an
integrated manner, the allocation of a permanent source of federal
funding to sustain local and state law enforcement operations to
combat firearms trafficking and other border-related crimes, the
redirection of United States federal Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), United
States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and United
States Customs and Border Protection resources towards this
effort, reenactment of a strong federal assault weapons ban, along
with a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines, stronger federal
authority to crack down on corrupt gun dealers, extending Brady
criminal background checks to all gun sales, including all sales at
gun shows to prevent firearms trafficking, and the maintenance of
firearm purchase records to help law enforcement track down armed
criminals and solve gun crimes; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States,
to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority
Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative from
California in the Congress of the United States, and to the author
for appropriate distribution.