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<p> Authorities in charge of gun control in the US have long been in the shadows in the international fight against drugs and drug trafficking, but this is rapidly changing under, putting them on a leading role.</p>
<p> While a few years back, gun traffic was rarely thought of as a fueling factor for drug-cartel violence in Mexico, today, authorities area acknowledging a clear link between guns and the streak of violence lived on the streets of border towns like Tijuana.</p>
<p> “We are opening a new office in El Centro, California and adding new personnel in San Diego and Tijuana as well as doing extensive training about the subject” said Michael Hoffman, Special Agent in charge of information for the Los Angeles Bureau of the Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms agency (ATF) in charge of Southern California.</p>
<p> Hoffman explains this new emphasis on weapon trafficking has to do with a worrying trend in criminal practices, because in the last few years there has been a lowering of the “purchase to crime” index; the time it takes for a weapon to be used in a violent crime after it is purchased.</p>
<p> “We used to have an index from a legitimate purchase to a crime of about 10 years” Hoffman explained, “but since 2006 we have seen this time significantly shorten, and now the average is a year and sometimes it only takes a month”.</p>
<p> Hoffman added this tendency spreads outside US borders, and cites two recent shootings in Tijuana as an example; one on April 26th 2008 where 15 people were killed, and another in October that same year.</p>
<p> On both cases some of the large weapons used were latter linked to an Anaheim resident who legally purchased these weapons in Las Vegas, Nevada.</p>
<p> This tendency has been perceived in Baja California as well, where according to data gathered by the Federal Prosecutors Office (Procuraduría General de la República) in Baja California, there has been significant change in the gun seizure patterns in the region.</p>
<p> While 823 hand guns and 415 assault riffles were seized in 2007, the number of assault weapons doubled in 2008 (899) and the number of ammunition went from 48 thousand to 202 thousand.</p>
<p> The increase of weapons seized came with an increase in violent attacks and confrontation with authorities, as well as a rise in kidnappings around Tijuana and throughout the state.</p>
<p>2009 doesn’t seem a lot brighter with the arms seizures.</p>
<p> Already hand gun seizures are up to a thousand and ammo has reached 581 thousand. And all though assault riffle seizures are still around the 500 figure, there is still some data that needs to be updated and those seizures added during the last months of the year.</p>
<p> According to ATF statistics, the LA office has increased the number of prosecutions for illegal position of arms 16.67% in the last year and up 600% since 2006, and they expect them to keep rising even when the crime was committed in Mexico.</p>
<p> “Many times we struggle to have accurate information about the made, model and serial number of weapons and that makes our job harder; specially with AK-47s because they are imported” said agent Hoffman, “better communication and training of Mexican agents has increased the number of weapons we can positively link to a buyer in the United States”.</p>
<p>ATF statistics nationwide name Texas as the number one place to buy guns, -with over 1,500 armories in the state, followed by Arizona, Nevada and California. If these weapons are indeed bought for use in US soil, why are Border States the places with higher offer and demand?</p>
<p> Not surprisingly, 93% of the 12 thousand weapons given to US authorities for background check where found to have been bought in the US.</p>
<p>Ten years in jail?</p>
<p> One of the most public strategies adopted by ATF and Armory owners groups has been the launching of an information campaign called “Don’t Lie for the Other Guy”, that started in the San Diego area in the past weeks.</p>
<p>The campaign includes a series of signs in residential areas around San Ysidro, seeking to educate residents and visiting border residents, on the severe sentences given to people who buy weapons with the intention of giving them over to someone else.</p>
<p>These type of purchases also known as “Straw puchases” are usually done by US citizen with no criminal background, who reside in the state of purchase and are over 21 years of age.</p>
<p>But while this citizens are complying with the law, they do not buy weapons for their own use, but with the purpose of giving them over to gang associates, minors, ex-convicts or most likely, to Mexican nationals with clear ties to the drug cartels.</p>
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