Stop U.S. Arms to Mexico Project
Please help stop the flow of US weapons to Mexico.
In 2017 and 2018, Mexicans were hit by the highest number of gun homicides in their recorded history - more than 44 every day - most of them committed with guns that came from the United States. The same easy availability of powerful rifles that helped the Las Vegas and Texas shooters kill and injure so many people is causing daily carnage in Mexico as well.
The enormous increase of US weapons exports to the Mexican police and military only contributes to the violence, since those forces commit atrocities with impunity and collude extensively with organized crime.
From 2015 to 2017, through the American Friends Service Committee, I collaborated with others to research US arms sales to Mexico, organize a fact-finding delegation to some of Mexico’s hardest-hit regions, produce a report and documentary film, mount speaking tours by Mexican victims, activists and scholars, and advocate change with key Members of Congress. This work has begun to get traction, including media attention in Mexico.
Stop US Guns to Mexico is a bi-national project begun in late 2017 that seeks to make transparent and ultimately reduce US legal gun sales to Mexico to what they were before the US-sponsored drug war began in Mexico a decade ago, and to incorporate Mexico into the narratives and agendas of the US gun violence prevention movement.
Stop US Guns to Mexico is a collaboration with Global Exchange in the United States and the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights in Mexico, guided by an expert advisory committee that I’ve assembled. Your tax-deductible contribution helps build the work to stop the flow of deadly weapons from the United States to Mexico. Please contribute what you can to advance this project.
At the Border Encuentro convened by School of the Americas Watch in 2017 and 2018, we were able to present to a packed workshop of over 100 people. The week before, I presented Where the Guns Go, new maps that trace arms from the United States to Mexico, and action requests at seven events across California.
From deep research to grassroots engagement, from inside policy work to organizing testimony of US guns’ impacts on Mexican communities and families, this bi-national project develops the tools, capacity, relationships, and expertise to document the flow of guns and to advocate to stop that weapons trade.
I am glad to be building on the work we’ve done and collaborating with sharp, committed researchers and activists in the United States, Mexico and beyond.
Support from individuals like you are key for this project. Even a small contribution will make a meaningful difference. Please also share this appeal with others you think may want to support this project.
In community,
John
Project Coordinator, Stop US Arms to Mexico
For more information on the project, analysis, and to see the film Where the Guns Go, visit our web site.