The United States exports a growing number of weapons to Mexico with almost no controls on where they go. These gun exports, together with massive illegal trafficking from U.S. retail gun sales, are part of the growing human rights crisis that is devastating migrants as well as Mexican communities.

And Trump wants to make it even easier for weapons manufacturers to sell and export firearms in Mexico and other countries. “Semi-automatic weapons, flamethrowers and even some grenades will become easier for U.S. weapons manufacturers to export overseas under new rules being put in place by the Trump administration and obtained by NBC News.”

View our webinar to learn more about this issue and how you can join a growing movement working to stop U.S. guns from getting into the hands of human rights abusers.

Hear from expert panelists including:

  • Eugenio Weigend is a senior policy analyst [2] at the Center for American Progress and author of numerous articles on U.S. gun trafficking to Mexico. [3]
  • Jessica Molina is a human rights defender from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas whose husband was disappeared by Mexican Navy troops in March 2018. Jessica has become a leading spokesperson for dozens of family members of disappeared people in Nuevo Laredo. [4]
  • Yanira Arias is the National Campaigns Manager for Alianza Americas, where she has coordinated actions in response to the detention and stigmatization of thousands of Central American children and their families. A Temporary Protected Status holder from El Salvador, she brings expertise on health disparities and community participation.
  • John Lindsay-Poland coordinates the Stop US Arms to Mexico project [5] of Global Exchange, and also has written extensively about the U.S. gun trade and its impacts in Mexico. [6]
  • Moderated by Janice Gallagher, assistant Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University, Newark. She has conducted extensive fieldwork in Mexico and Colombia and wrote “Tipping the Scales of Justice: The Role of Citizen Action in Strengthening the Rule of Law.” A true public intellectual, Janice also recently led an international elections observation mission in Tamaulipas, Mexico’s most dangerous border state.

[1] “Trump Administration Eases Regulations on Gun Exports, Raising Concerns,” The New York Times, January 31, 2019.
[2] Eugenio Weigend biographical page 
[3] “Should Mexico Adopt Permissive Gun Policies: Lessons from the United States,” Mexican Law Review, January 24, 2019. 8
[4] “Will Mexico’s New President Seek Justice for the Disappeared?” The Nation, January 28, 2019.
[5] Stop US Arms to Mexico web site
[6] “How U.S. Guns Sold to Mexico End Up with Security Forces Accused of Crime and Human Righhts Abuses,” The Intercept, April 26, 2018.

Photo Credit: Democracy Now

 

Yesterday I saw the possibility of a better future for the US when 175,000 people joined the March for Our lives in New York City.

This demonstration of people power was led by youth of all ages, and brought  people from all corners of the city together to demand an end to gun violence and to call on the President and Congress for stricter gun control measures.

But this was more than a political action; it was the birth of a new generation of activists and change makers, and a welcoming for thousands of youth into the struggle for peace, justice and equality.

This historical action took place in cities across the country, moving millions to listen and support the demands of our nation’s youth who will not tolerate nor accept the keys of this country in its current state.

Despite the mass turnouts on Saturday; Senator Marco Rubio expressed that even though he “respected their right to express their ideas,” there are a lot of people who do not support new gun control measures and continued to defended his support of the NRA.

When will sanity arrive to Washington? When will the lives of our youth be more important than gun ownership? When will Washington hear the voices of the masses and offer a solution and not an excuse?!

Expressions like the one from Rubio remind us that we still have to face the great wall of ignorance, ambition and corporate interests, to achieve safety in this country,  but the March for our Lives showed us that we have the strength, the energy and clearly the will to do it.

We must stand with our youth in support of this cause and work with others to discuss, organize and mobilize to ensure that we vote out violence and take our democracy in the right direction.

Global Exchange is taking a stand. This summer we will be putting our best efforts forward to bring our allies of all ages together, to reflect, to dialogue and then to take action in accordance with the demands of our youth for a better future now.

 

The week started with yet another school shooting, this time in Maryland.

It is time to end this madness!

Students are leading the charge for sensible gun laws that put restrictions on who can own and operate guns that can easily be turned into instruments of slaughter.

They know that our current policies mean that it is 82 times more likely for a student in the US to be killed by gun violence as their counterparts around the world!

Stand with them on Saturday as we March for Our Lives — to demand that Congress take immediate action to protect the lives of children and people of all ages.

We need massive turnout on streets this Saturday. Click here to find an event near you.Let’s make our voices heard.

Our members of Congress need to know that we represent millions of voters (and future voters), and that we are watching their actions now.

Saturday’s marchers are taking the first steps on a long road toward gun sanity in the USA.

For the families of the Parkland tragedy and every needless firearm death… we march.

See you in the Streets Saturday!

 

A toxic mixture of insecure masculinity, politically amplified fears, race prejudice, and anti-government paranoia feeds America’s dangerous gun culture.

These forces were not invented by the NRA, but the NRA has cynically manipulated them to build itself into a powerful force for mass marketing the idea that more weapons in private hands is the solution to our violence problems, not its root.

Rather than argue that guns have a legitimate, but restricted place in our society as tools for hunting and self-defense (as the original NRA did in decades long past), the NRA glorifies firearms ownership, imposes a fundamentalist interpretation of the Second Amendment, and shields firearms marketers from any responsibility – even as they sell millions of weapons designed for military combat to virtually anyone who can afford one.

In order to stifle debate, the NRA attacks anyone who offers even the mildest common sense measures to regulate the sale of weapons. They work to suppress research and documentation of gun violence to deprive their opponents of useful data that might undermine their extremist positions. But their evil is most evident when, in response to repeated school massacres, they distract from the consequences of irresponsible gun policy by relentlessly pushing proposals for arming teachers.

Earlier this week, the NRA’s absurd “more guns for school safety” proposals were (once again) echoed by President Trump. He continued to claim that the NRA is “on our side” even as he maneuvered to contain the growing fury aroused by the Valentine’s Day massacre of 17 Florida high-school students.

That is a lot of bad news. The good news is the awakening on this issue that is happening all across our beautiful country.  Brilliant student survivors, joined by LGBTQ community folk who became active after the 2016 Pulse dance club massacre descended on the Florida state capital last week and are having real impact.

Outrage at politics as usual on guns is so strong that yesterday Trump “shocked” a Republican gathering with vague talk of “comprehensive gun control” (even as he continued to advocate for arming teachers and other school personnel). We don’t buy the change of heart, but we do celebrate that popular pressure is forcing this “big fan of the NRA” to distance himself from their toxic “more guns is always better” talking points.

Nationally the NRA is being abandoned by corporations that usually lay low on this issue. In a break with NRA orthodoxy Dick’s Sporting Goods no longer sell assault rifles or high capacity magazines nor will they sell firearms to anyone under 21 years of age. Walmart and Kroger are likewise adopting voluntary restrictions. A growing list of major corporations have cut commercial ties to the NRA – these include airlines like Delta and United; car rental agencies like Enterprise, Hertz and Avis; movers North American Van Lines and Allied Van Lines; and life insurance companies like MetLife.

Common sense gun control is back by popular demand, and – like it or not – will be a big part of the 2018 mid-term election debate.

Keeping the momentum alive for effective gun policy reform will be one of the aims Global Exchange’s Town Hall Summer 2018 project that looks to build civic momentum by organizing regional meetings of people who are working on a broad range of issues: climate, peace, immigrant rights, worker justice, black lives matter, #metoo, gun law reform; ending the drug war, criminal justice reform, health care for all, and more.

Moving together in a common sense direction on gun policy is part of breaking out of “issue silos” that have compartmentalize and held back our movements.

Today, join us and help accelerate the pace of change by joining the youth who are standing and saying “Not One More.”

Take Part in the MARCH FOR OUR LIVES on March 24, 2018 and find a Gathering Near You.

Tomorrow we want to work with you and everyone who’s interested in building a people’s movement to take back our world and the course of history from those who seek to endlessly plunder the planet and extinguish our hopes.

People know we need to change course, but too many of us feel powerless. That is the first thing we have to change.

Join us. We’ve got the numbers, but we have to work together.