BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SJR 10
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 26, 2012
Counsel: Milena Blake
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Tom Ammiano, Chair
SJR 10 (De Leon) - As Amended: April 30, 2012
SUMMARY : Urges the President and the Congress of the United
States to pursue a comprehensive approach to stem the
trafficking of illicit United States firearms and ammunition
into Mexico. Specifically, this bill :
1)States that such an approach include as its centerpiece:
a) Enhanced collaboration among local, state, and federal
law enforcement agencies to coordinate the interdiction of
illegal firearms and ammunition trafficking and the
implementation of associated border security policies and
operations in an integrated manner;
b) The allocation of a permanent source of federal funding
to sustain local and state law enforcement operations to
combat firearms and ammunition trafficking and other
border-related crimes;
c) The redirection of resources of the federal Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the United
States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the United
States Customs and Border Protection towards this effort;
d) The reenactment of a strong federal assault weapons ban,
along with a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines;
e) Stronger federal authority to crack down on corrupt gun
dealers;
f) Extending Brady criminal background checks to all gun
sales, including all sales at gun shows to prevent firearms
and ammunition trafficking; and,
g) The maintenance of firearm purchase records to help law
enforcement track down armed criminals and solve gun
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crimes.
2)States that the rise of firearms and ammunition trafficking
from the United States into Mexico has fueled the terrorism of
both United States and Mexican citizens by Mexican drug
trafficking organizations (DTOs), and has devastated thousands
of families who have lost loved ones to violence on both sides
of the border.
3)States that since the start of Mexican President Felipe
Calderon's administration in December 2006, 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.
4)States that violence across 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 in Mexico as a
result of organized crime-related violence.
5)States that 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 given the
increased level of criminal activity in the southwestern
United States, violence threatens the safety of citizens on
both sides of the border.
6)States that in May 2010, the Mexican government stated that
out of the 75,000 illegal firearms seized by Mexican
authorities in the last three years, about 80 percent-60,000
firearms-originated in the United States.
7)States that 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.
8)States that the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives (ATF), as of May 2010, had processed 69,808
firearm trace requests from Mexico, and it appears that a
majority of these firearms have a nexus to the United States.
9)States that there are an estimated 8,479 licensed United
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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.
10)States that the ATF reports that 87 percent of firearms
seized by Mexican authorities and traced over the last five
years originated in the United States. 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.
11)States that in addition to the trafficking of firearms, the
illicit trafficking of ammunition is fueling the proliferation
of gun violence along the United States-Mexico border, as
Mexican drug trafficking organizations have virtually
unfettered access to ammunition from the United States.
12)States that according to the ATF, between the years 2006 and
2011, over 1.2 million rounds of ammunition believed to be
destined for Mexico were seized during the course of
ATF-instigated investigations and joint investigations
originating in California, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico.
During this timeframe, 527,809 rounds of ammunition were
confiscated by the ATF's Los Angeles Field Division, 14,154
rounds were confiscated by the San Francisco Field Division,
196,450 rounds were confiscated by the Phoenix Field Division,
380,001 rounds were confiscated by the Houston Field Division,
and 123,300 rounds were confiscated by the Dallas Field
Division.
13)States that 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.
14)States that 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 firearms and ammunition
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trafficking activities.
15)States that 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-that includes the
judicious leveraging and sharing of intelligence, equipment,
and personnel to combat illegal firearms and ammunition
trafficking and other border-related crimes.
16)States that 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.
17)States that in February 2011, 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.
18)States that 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.
19)States that 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, and between 1999 and 2009, 32 news
reporters or editors were killed, and an additional nine
reporters disappeared.
20)States that 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.
21)States that 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
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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. The next day
Jose Aristeo, chief of staff for the federal preventive
police, was shot and killed in the same city.
22)States that United States citizens have also been terrorized
by the violence associated with United States firearms and
ammunition 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 highway in
Sonora.
23)States that 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 the ATF when an individual purchases two or more
rifles, including assault rifles, within five business days.
24)States that following the expiration of the Federal Assault
Weapons Ban in 2004, it has become easier to purchase
high-powered assault weapons. 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.
25)States that 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 and ammunition into
Mexico has skyrocketed.
26)Requires that the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of
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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.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires arms exports to be licensed by the federal government
under the Arms Export Control Act. (22 U.S.C. Section 2278.)
2)Prohibits any person, other than a licensed importer, licensed
manufacturer, licensed dealer, or licensed collector, from
transferring, selling, trading, giving, transporting, or
delivering any firearm to any person, other than a licensed
importer, licensed manufacturer, licensed dealer, or licensed
collector, who the transferor knows or has reasonable cause to
believe does not reside in the State in which the transferor
resides. (18 U.S.C. Section 922.)
3)States that whoever fraudulently or knowingly exports or sends
from the United States, or attempts to export or send from the
United States, any merchandise, article, or object contrary to
any law or regulation of the United States, or receives,
conceals, buys, sells, or in any manner facilitates the
transportation, concealment, or sale of such merchandise,
article or object, prior to exportation, knowing the same to
be intended for exportation contrary to any law or regulation
of the United States, shall be fined under this title,
imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both. (18 U.S.C.
Section 554.)
4)Regulates the manufacture, sale, and possession of firearms
and ammunition in the State of California and requires that
all transfers of firearms take place by or through a licensed
firearms dealer, except as specified. (Penal Code Section
16000, et seq.)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement : According to the author, "Thousands of
families on both sides of the United States-Mexico border have
lost loved ones to gun violence, and this violence is fueled
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by the illicit trafficking of U.S. firearms and ammunition
into Mexico and other Central American nations.
"Due to California's strict gun control laws, our state is not
one of the top so-called 'source states' of illegal firearms
that are being trafficked across the border, but our freeways
and highways are being used to transport weapons and
ammunition across the border.
"In addition to the need for more resources to strengthen law
enforcement operations and collaboration on the frontlines of
this growing epidemic, stronger laws at the federal level need
to be part of the solution due to the weak and inconsistent
patchwork of gun and ammunition control laws in other
southwestern border states and across the county-namely
Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Nevada.
"SJR 10 urges the President and the U.S. Congress to pursue a
comprehensive approach to stem the illegal trafficking of U.S.
firearms and ammunition to Mexico."
2)Government Accountability Office Report on Firearms
Trafficking : According to the GAO , "Available evidence
indicates many of the firearms fueling Mexican drug violence
originated in the United States, including a growing number of
increasingly lethal weapons. While it is impossible to know
how many firearms are illegally smuggled into Mexico in a
given year, about 87 percent of firearms seized by Mexican
authorities and traced in the last 5 years originated in the
United States, according to data from Department of Justice's
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
According to U.S. and Mexican government officials, these
firearms have been increasingly more powerful and lethal in
recent years. Many of these firearms come from gun shops and
gun shows in Southwest border states. U.S. and Mexican
government and law enforcement officials stated most firearms
are intended to support operations of Mexican DTOs, which are
also responsible for trafficking arms to Mexico.
"The U.S. government faces several significant challenges in
combating illicit sales of firearms in the United States and
stemming their flow into Mexico. In particular, certain
provisions of some federal firearms laws present challenges to
U.S. efforts, according to ATF officials. Specifically,
officials identified key challenges related to restrictions on
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collecting and reporting information on firearms purchases, a
lack of required background checks for private firearms sales,
and limitations on reporting requirements for multiple sales.
GAO also found ATF and Department of Homeland Security's (DHS)
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the primary
agencies implementing efforts to address the issue, do not
effectively coordinate their efforts, in part because the
agencies lack clear roles and responsibilities and have been
operating under an outdated interagency agreement.
Additionally, agencies generally have not systematically
gathered, analyzed, and reported data that could be useful to
help plan and assess results of their efforts to address arms
trafficking to Mexico.
"U.S. law enforcement agencies have provided some assistance to
Mexican counterparts in combating arms trafficking, but these
efforts face several challenges. U.S. law enforcement
assistance to Mexico does not target arms trafficking needs,
limiting U.S. agencies' ability to provide technical or
operational assistance. In addition, U.S. assistance has been
limited due to Mexican officials' incomplete use of ATF's
electronic firearms tracing system, an important tool for U.S.
arms trafficking investigations. Another significant
challenge facing U.S. efforts to assist Mexico is corruption
among some Mexican government entities. Mexican federal
authorities are implementing anticorruption measures, but
government officials acknowledge fully implementing these
reforms will take considerable time, and may take years to
affect comprehensive change.
"The administration's recently released National Southwest
Border Counternarcotics Strategy includes, for the first time,
a chapter on combating illicit arms trafficking to Mexico.
Prior to the new strategy, the U.S. government lacked a
strategy to address arms trafficking to Mexico, and various
efforts undertaken by individual U.S. agencies were not part
of a comprehensive U.S. governmentwide strategy for addressing
the problem. At this point, it's not clear whether ONDCP's
"implementation plan" for the strategy, which has not been
finalized, will include performance indicators and other
accountability mechanisms to overcome shortcomings raised in
our report."
3)Argument in Support : According to the Legal Community Against
Violence, "Over the past five years, over 50,000 people in
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Mexico have been killed in an unprecedented wave of
drug-related violence, and despite U.S. and Mexican efforts,
the violence shows no sign of abating. Since Mexico's laws
regarding the possession of guns by civilians are strict, the
Mexican drug cartels obtain firearms legally - and easily - in
the U.S. According to data from ATF, approximately 87% of the
firearms seized by Mexican authorities and traced over Fiscal
Years 2004-2008 originated in the U.S. According to other
estimates, 90% to 95% of guns seized in drug crimes in Mexico
come from the U.S."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Asociacion Retalteca
California Chapters of the Brady Campaign
California-Mexico Project
Casa de La Cultura Maya
Central American Resource Center
Council of Mexican Federations
County of Los Angeles Sheriff's Department
Fellowship of Reconciliation
Global Exchange
Hermandad Mexicana Nacional
Hondurenos Unidos de Los Angeles
Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence
Legal Community Against Violence
Sonora USA
U.P.E.X.T.
Union de Guatemaltecos Emigrantes
United Job Creation Council
Opposition
California Rifle and Pistol Association, Inc.
National Rifle Association
Analysis Prepared by : Milena Blake / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744