Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress finds the following: Violence in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean is exacerbated by firearms originating in the United States. While firearms are trafficked to Mexico from a variety of countries, firearms originating in the United States account for 70 percent of the firearms recovered and traced from crimes in Mexico, according to the 2021 Government Accountability Office
(GAO)report published by the Comptroller General of the United States titled Firearms Trafficking: U.S. Efforts to Disrupt Gun Smuggling into Mexico Would Benefit from Additional Data and Analysis . United States-origin firearm flows contribute to human rights violations, organized crime and gang violence, extrajudicial killings, high homicide rates, domestic violence, and femicides in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. Firearms trafficking from the United States and firearm violence are key drivers of immigration and asylum claims from Central America. According to the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, firearms are used in 70 percent of homicides in the Caribbean compared to 30 percent globally, and while the Caribbean constitutes less than one percent of the global population, it is responsible for 23 percent of all recorded homicides. In an August 2022 press conference, United States officials of Homeland Security Investigations reported a marked uptick in the number of weapons , and an increase in the caliber and type of weapons, being illegally trafficked to Haiti and the rest of the Caribbean. The Caribbean Basin Security Initiative of the Department of State that commenced in 2009 is the regional foreign assistance program of the United States that seeks to reduce illicit trafficking in the Caribbean region and advance public safety and security. The program includes improving the capacity of Caribbean countries to intercept smuggled weapons at airports and seaports, as well as support for forensic ballistics and firearms destruction and stockpile management. Assistance under the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative has also included support for regional organizations, including— the Caribbean Community Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (CARICOM IMPACS), based in Trinidad and Tobago, the lead agency involved in the issue of illicit firearms trafficking and increasing the capacity of member states to detect and prevent firearms trafficking; and the Eastern Caribbean’s Regional Security System, based in Barbados. Two GAO reports (published in 2021 and 2022, respectively) on firearms trafficking have affirmed that firearms trafficking to Mexico and Central America continues to represent a security concern to the United States, as United States-origin firearms are diverted from legitimate owners and end up in the hands of violent criminals, including drug traffickers and other transnational criminal organizations. A GAO report on the effect of firearms trafficking in the Caribbean has not yet been compiled. In these reports, the Comptroller General found that Federal departments and agencies lacked information and analysis of the firearms trafficking networks in Mexico and Central America, that few efforts of the United States Government in the region focused on firearms trafficking, and that, as a result, such agencies lack a detailed understanding of the firearms trafficking that fuels violence and enables criminals in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. Firearms used to kidnap and kill a group of United States citizens traveling in Matamoros, Mexico were illegally smuggled from the United States into Mexico. The suspect in these killings admitted to Federal agents that he purchased firearms in the United States, smuggled them across the border, and knowingly provided them to members of the Gulf Cartel. As the incident specified in paragraph
(11)demonstrates, United States-sourced firearms are being smuggled and diverted to cartels implicated in the supply and flow of illegal fentanyl and other dangerous drugs, threatening the public health and safety of United States citizens. In the 2022 GAO report Firearms Trafficking: More Information Needed to Inform U.S. Efforts in Central America , the Comptroller General found that efforts of the United States Government focused on firearms trafficking in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras lacked information about relevant country conditions and performance measures to ensure such efforts were designed and implemented to achieve the intended objectives and, as a result, the Comptroller General recommended that the Secretary of State obtain information about the conditions in such countries, to support the development of effective programs to reduce the availability of illicit firearms. Data on firearms trafficking is limited and to understand the problem, data compilation is crucial. As of the date of the publication of the report specified in paragraph (12), the Secretary of Commerce had not assigned any agents to Central America on permanent assignment. In 2021 and 2022, the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices of the Department of State included unlawful and arbitrary killings as a significant human rights issue in Guatemala, yet despite such inclusion, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security has authorized approximately 99,270 firearms exports to Guatemala since assuming responsibility for firearms licensing in 2020. When firearms were controlled under the United States Munitions List and the licensing of firearms was the responsibility of the Secretary of State, the average number of firearms licensed for export to Guatemala was approximately 4,000 per year. The current number of exports specified in paragraph
(15)represents an extraordinary increase (as much as 25 times the average) from the number specified in paragraph (16), and the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security has only been able to conduct a very limited number of end-use checks, according to the 2022 GAO report Firearms Trafficking: More Information Needed to Inform U.S. Efforts in Central America . Since the Department of Commerce gained jurisdiction over the control of firearm export licensing, there has been a 30 percent increase in firearm exports in comparison to averages for such exports when the control of such exports was under the jurisdiction of the Department of State. The Secretary of Commerce has also approved 95 percent of license applications for such exports. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Mexico, Guatemala, and Brazil have been among the top 10 destinations for United States-manufactured semiautomatic firearm exports. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act ( Public Law 117–159 ), which was enacted into law on June 25, 2022, implemented key efforts to address firearm trafficking, including by establishing a Federal criminal offense for firearm trafficking and by strengthening the capability of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to interdict firearms. A growing number of firearms exported by United States manufacturers are found involved in violent crimes worldwide. For instance, the pistol used in a mass shooting of 23 children and two teachers in Thailand in October 2022 was linked to a United States factory.
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Sec. 2
Findings
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