Dems Urge Obama To Ban Importation Of Assault Weapons

MEXICO CITY (AP) – More than 50 U.S. lawmakers sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to enforce a ban on importing assault weapons.

The 53 lawmakers, all Democrats, say many such guns are later smuggled south to arm Mexico’s ruthless drug cartels.

The ban was implemented under the administrations of President George H.W. Bush and President Bill Clinton, and the U.S. government can enforce it under provisions of the 1968 Gun Control Act.

But the lawmakers say in their letter that the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has quietly abandoned the ban in recent years. The ATF declined to comment.

The ATF estimates that 90 percent of weapons seized in Mexico come from sources within the United States. Mexico has long demanded that the United States do more to stop the flow of weapons south, and Obama has pledged to step up those efforts.

Congress included $10 million in the economic stimulus package approved last week for the ATF’s Project Gunrunner, which targets gun-trafficking networks in the U.S.

Mexico’s drug violence has rapidly escalated despite President Felipe Calderon’s deployment of 45,000 soldiers across the country to fight cartels.