Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

Senator Also Seeks Funding to Help Disarm Drug Cartels 

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today introduced legislation aimed at reducing border violence and drug smuggling by cracking down on the gunrunning trade.

Bingaman pointed out that the Mexican government recently deployed 2,000 troops and federal police to the state of Chihuahua to crack down on the violence that led to more than 200 deaths this year.  While that effort has helped quell the violence for now, Bingaman believes a long-term strategy is badly needed. 

Bingaman's Southwest Border Violence Reduction Act of 2008 would tackle the duel problem of drug smuggling and violence by ramping up efforts to prevent gunrunning from the United States to Mexico.  According to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) 90 percent of the weapons seized in Mexico are from the United States.

"Mexican drug cartels rely heavily on guns smuggled from the United States to perpetuate deadly violence and intimidate law enforcement," Bingaman said.  "To reduce violence in the region and disrupt the drug trade, it is essential to target the gunrunning operations arming these violent cartels."

Specifically, Bingaman's bill authorizes $15 million in both fiscal year 2009 and 2010 to expand the U.S. Department of Justice's "Project Gunrunner Initiative" – a successful initiative that targets gun trafficking networks.

The funding would enable ATF to hire, train and deploy an additional 80 special agents, enough for at least seven more Project Gunrunner Teams in the border region to investigate and help prosecute individuals that traffic weapons into Mexico. 

The bill also authorizes $9.5 million in both fiscal year 2009 and 2010 to enhance cooperation between the United States and Mexico.  This funding would allow ATF to assign an additional 12 agents to consulates in Mexico to support Mexico's efforts to trace seized weapons and to train Mexican law enforcement officials in anti-trafficking investigative techniques. 

Bingaman is simultaneously seeking federal funding for his plan.  He has already written letters to top Senate leaders on the Appropriations Subcommittee that funds the Justice Department urging that they provide $15 million in FY 2009 for ATF's Project Gunrunner Initiative.  He has also written to top Senate appropriators seeking $9.5 million in the FY 2008 Emergency Supplemental Spending bill being developed to enhance cooperation between Mexico and the United States in the investigation of arms trafficking organizations. 

"To avoid future flare ups of violence along the border, we need to adopt a long-term approach to disarming Mexico's drug cartels," Bingaman said.  "I hope Congress will take quick action on my proposal."