MEXICO IS SEEING THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF HOMICIDES IN ITS HISTORY.
EXPERTS SAY A VAST MAJORITY OF MEXICO'S KILLINGS ARE DONE WITH U-S GUNS SMUGGLED SOUTH.
IN PART 1 OF THIS TWO-PART SERIES, KPBS BORDER REPORTER JEAN GUERRERO LOOKS AT THE PROBLEM AND WHO IT'S AFFECTING.
Julieta Sanchez is a U-S permanent resident who lives in
San Diego. She brought her son, Fernando, from Mexico
when he was 15.

30:42-30:50 Julieta Sanchez / San Diego
resident "He was very hard-working, he liked work
and he was very active."

He finished school, then worked installing floors and
carpets in Chula Vista. But eventually, he began to
struggle with addiction, using crystal meth.

26:28-26:36 "He started getting skinny, and I
wondered what it could be, and then he started saying
things that didn't make sense."

Rehab was too expensive in the U-S for her. So she sent
him back to Tijuana, where rehab is more affordable.

The day they were going to check him in, she says,
Fernando was shot and killed. He was 29. No arrests were
made, and the case is still a mystery.

18:30-18:41 "I don't want vengeance. I don't want
vengeance. I want more government control, over
these people selling guns to kids."

She can be pretty sure the gun used to kill her son came
from the U-S.

Tijuana's police chief Marco Antonio Sotomayor says
"nearly all" of the guns used to kill people in Mexico are
smuggled in from the U.S.

9:50:40-9:50:56 Marco Antonio Sotomayor / Tijuana
Police Chief "We know that those weapons come from
the U.S., because inside Mexico there's no way for
them to buy them. They buy in places like Arizona,
Nevada, because of the weak laws. Gun shows."

Mexico has only one gun shop. It's controlled by the
military and it's in Mexico City. The gun laws for civilians
are extremely strict, with six-month background checks
and a federal registry of every person who buys a gun.
Person to person firearm sales are prohibited.

But both Mexico and Tijuana are seeing record levels of
gun violence, with homicides nationwide hitting an all-time
high of 33 thousand last year.

Sotomayor says Tijuana police have seized more than two
thousand weapons in the city during the past three years,
and most have U-S markings.

9:41:35-9:41:46 "It's very hard to buy a gun in Mexico.
We have a very intense process before you can buy
one. If you guys had that, it would be really helpful."

President Trump has painted a bleak picture of criminals
and drugs pouring into the U-S from Mexico. But speaking
at the National Rifle Association Forum, he didn't mention
the U-S guns pouring into Mexico.

In fact, he announced that the U-S was withdrawing from
an international arms agreement aimed at cracking down
on illegal weapons trading.

3:15 "Every day you stand up for our God-given
rights, without exception, without fail and without
apology. Together we are fighting for the timeless
values that have built and sustained our nation." 3:30

Ernesto Diaz is a special agent with the U.S. Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

He says there's been an increase in large-calibre weapons
being smuggled from the U-S into Mexico.

51:20 Ernesto Diaz / U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives "Those weapons are being
used by drug cartels to enforce their business, to go
after law enforcement, Mexican authorities, and
innocent civilians." (this is in a folder called
SMUGGLING on my Snuffy user shelf)

Diaz says there's also been an increase in U-S gun parts
going into Mexico, and being assembled there.

About 70 percent of weapons submitted to U-S authorities
from Mexico were traceable to the U.S. last year. Diaz
says ATF is trying to combat the situation by going after
smugglers in the U-S. Many are U.S. citizens.

1:01:00 "There are people associated with cartels who
reside in the United States."

Sanchez, who believes her son died due to the lack of
control over U-S guns, says she hopes something is done
about the problem soon.

52:14-52:23 "They killed my son, then they're going to
kill another, and it's going to keep happening. They're
young. These men are young."

The gun-fueled violence south of the border has
contributed to the increasing number of people seeking
asylum in the U-S, and experts believe that controlling the
flow of guns into Mexico would decrease illegal
immigration and asylum claims at the U-S border.

Jean Guerrero, KPBS News.}