Weapons ban debate heating up
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress may be alarmed by the surge in Mexican drug violence and its potential to spill across the border. But its members grow silent when the talk turns to gun control as a solution.
With related kidnappings and killings occurring in the United States, the Obama administration is likely to shift dozens of enforcement agents and millions of dollars to the fight against Mexican drug cartels.
Yet when Attorney General Eric Holder suggested reinstituting a U.S. ban on the sale of certain semiautomatic weapons, many lawmakers balked. The 1994 ban expired after 10 years.
Mexico has long tried to get the United States to curtail the number of guns - many purchased legally - that wind up south of the border where gun laws are much stricter. The State Department says firearms obtained in the United States make up an estimated 95 percent of Mexico's drug-related killings.
But when border violence comes up in hearings, lawmakers say they don't see a need for new gun laws. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas heads the GOP's Senate election committee. In his words, "I don't think the solution to Mexico's problems is to limit Second Amendment gun rights in this country."
(Copyright ©2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
