How Gun Violence in the United States Casts Other Nations in Stark Relief Carol Hills and David Leveille - PRI's The World
go to original December 4, 2015

A cache of weapons seized from a vehicle from an outbound examination at Del Rio International Bridge on February 1, 2011. US customs agents in Texas seized 14 high-powered assault rifles when they searched a car heading into Mexico, and arrested the driver. (US Customs and Border Protection/Reuters)

In Mexico, there's a slang term for AK-47 assault rifles. They're called cuerno de chivos, or goat's horns, because of the shape of the magazine.

Listen to the story:

"They're very very popular," says journalist Angela Kocherga, who's covered the US-Mexico border and Mexico for 20 years. But unlike many states in the US, assault rifles aren't legal in Mexico. They're smuggled in and end up in the hands of Mexico drug cartels.

"In some cases they're able to get the weapons that come through the US, often bought in border states and smuggled across the border piecemeal," says Kocherga. They're also smuggled across the Central American border into Mexico from other countries. "So really, from both of Mexico's borders, the cartels are able to bring in weapons."

The paradox is that Mexico has some of the strictest gun control laws in the world. Kocherga says there's only one legal gun store in the entire country. "It is run by the military. It's based in Mexico City, the capital, and it's very, very tough to get a weapon — so most people do not go to that store." But that doesn't deter criminals involved in Mexico's drug trade. Assault rifles and guns are readily available on the black market.

Read the rest at PRI's The World

Related: Gun Violence: Mexico and U.S. Equally, Terminally Entangled (Mexico Voices)

Related: Millennials Around the World React to America's Gun Violence Problem (World.Mic)

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