PRESIDENT TRUMP CONTINUES TO DEMAND A WALL TO STOP IMMIGRANTS AND DRUGS FROM ENTERING THE U-S.
LAST NIGHT, WE LOOKED AT HOW MEXICO'S RECORD VIOLENCE IS TIED TO U-S GUNS POURING SOUTH INTO MEXICO.
NOW, KPBS BORDER REPORTER JEAN GUERRERO LOOKS AT WHAT'S BEING DONE ABOUT IT.

{Matt Klier runs an active shooter defense school in San Diego. He was in the military for 12 years and worked eight years as a police officer.

MATT KLIER / ACTIVE SHOOTER DEFENSE SCHOOL 14:20 "Guns in Mexico are just like drugs in America. Okay? They're freely flowing across that border that's completely unprotected. And I don't wanna get on the wall subject, but basically, we need something."

Klier says he doesn't think making gun laws more restrictive in the U-S is the solution to stopping the smuggling of guns into Mexico. He says that only creates problems for law-abiding gun owners like him.

16:22 "The laws are so convoluted and ever evolving, that I can be sitting at home doing nothing, and I could immediately become a felon."

It's against Mexican law to take US guns into Mexico. But
Tijuana's police chief says "nearly all" of the two thousand weapons it has seized in crime scenes over the last three years are from the US. They pour in through the ports of entry, where there are few inspections.

The reality is affecting real people.

41:11-4:13 "Here he is."

Julieta Sanchez shows me a picture of her 29-year-old son, Fernando, who was fatally shot in Tijuana.

21:35-21:43 JULIETA SANCHEZ / MOTHER OF VICTIM "They shot him one time in the temple, they shot him right here, you can see in the photo, and then he died."

Sanchez is a U-S permanent resident in San Diego. She says the problem started when her son began to struggle with drug addiction in the U-S.

12:15-12:21 "Here in the U.S., it's too expensive to rehabilitate an addict."

He was killed in Tijuana after she sent him there to be treated. Tijuana's police department says nearly all of the guns used in homicides in Tijuana come from the U-S.

David Shirk is a researcher with the Justice in Mexico project, who says lax U-S gun laws are contributing to Mexico's violence hitting an all-time high last year.

6:51:53 David Shirk / Justice in Mexico "Mexico has a homicide by firearm epidemic. And one way to help address that epidemic is to address the problem of firearms."

He says American gun lobbyists have blocked legislation to fix the problem because they profit off of it.

6:40:50 "One thing that would be really helpful, which we do not do in the United States, is to register firearms and to track firearms. It's actually illegal in the United States for ATF to maintain records of who has a gun in the United States."

He says the southbound weapon smuggling is contributing to the current border crisis.

6:53:39 "Many of those firearms that are contributing to the fear and insecurity that leads people to flee their homes from Central America and come to the US border seeking asylum are US purchased or manufactured firearms that are making their way into the black market downstream in the Americas."

But gun shop owners like Lee Moiseve of Gunfighter Tactical say gun law restrictions just hurt his business without doing much else. He says gun shops do plenty to keep weapons out of the hands of criminals. He remembers a man who stopped by once.

Lee Moiseve / Gunfighter Tactical 4:01:28 "He said out loud, I wanna buy that rifle to take back to my ranch in Mexico. And we said no, you can't do that, you can't do that. There's laws against that, and I can't sell you that gun now."

The head of Mexico's customs agency, Ricardo Peralta, says the new administration is installing X-rays and other surveillance technologies at the ports, to capture more information about vehicles from the U-S. Previously, there were very few inspections of southbound vehicles.

4:47:10-4:47:24 "If in the past they'd used technology like we're using now, and which we're planning to expand, we would have avoided so many deaths in Mexico."

He says many people have pushed back against southbound inspections because it means slowdowns to enter Mexico, like those experienced to enter the US.

4:49:08 -4:49:13 "Of course there's resistance, people think Mexico has no intention to take care of its border."

Klier, of the active shooter training school, says he has another solution.

29:00 "I'll tell you right now, here's the answer. Hey America, stop doing illegal drugs. That's it. That's your answer. Every addict out there. Quit. Stop buying illegal drugs. Mexico, all that shit going on in Mexico will stop. The next day."

Jean Guerrero, KPBS News. }