BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SJR 10
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SJR 10 (De León)
As Amended April 30, 2012
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :21-15
PUBLIC SAFETY 4-2
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|Ayes:|Ammiano, Cedillo, | | |
| |Mitchell, Hall | | |
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|Nays:|Knight, Hagman | | |
| | | | |
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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 includes 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;
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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
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%-60,000
firearms-originated in the United States.
7)States that estimates of guns flowing into Mexico from the
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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
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% of firearms seized by
Mexican authorities and traced over the last five years
originated in the United States. Approximately 68% of these
illegal firearms were manufactured in the United States, and
approximately 19% 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
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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
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.
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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
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%
of crime guns recovered and traced in Mexico in 2009 were long
guns, up from 20% in 2004, and recent data also shows a surge
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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 has 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
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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS : 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 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.
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firearms and ammunition to Mexico."
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Milena Blake / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744
FN: 0004231