President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Tuesday that gun control is urgently needed in the United States, and suggested that U.S. President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump should both pledge to impose greater regulations on the sale of firearms.
His remarks on U.S. gun control policies at his morning press conference came in response to a question about the assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania on Saturday and the 20-year-old shooter’s ease of access to guns.
“I believe that controlling the sale of guns in the United States would help a lot,” López Obrador said. “It’s something that needs to be done urgently.”
López Obrador also said that if “the two candidates” for the United States presidency were to sign “a commitment to regulate the sale of guns” should they win a second term, it “would be a well-regarded act by Americans.”
“It would be an act of good faith in the quest for unity and peace, a first step,” he said.
AMLO added that “other causes” of gun violence in the U.S. have to be addressed as well “because this is a social crisis.”
“It has to be combatted, they have to get to the bottom of it, they have to return to the morals of the founders of that great nation. I believe that … [those morals] have been lost, and there is social decay,” he said.
López Obrador said that about 50,000 guns have been seized by authorities in Mexico since he took office in late 2018, and highlighted that “approximately 75%” of them were smuggled into the country from the United States.
“There is no control of guns [in the U.S.]. If we confiscated 50,000, imagine how many are coming in because we can’t seize them all. … And in the United States you can buy them in a supermarket; that can’t go on,” he said.
In Mexico, guns can only be purchased legally at one store operated by the army in the metropolitan area of Mexico City.
While random mass shootings in places such as schools and shopping centers are extremely rare in Mexico, targeted killings occur regularly, including in bars, and overall homicide numbers are significantly higher than in the U.S.
Political violence is also a major problem in Mexico.
The majority of homicides in Mexico are committed with firearms illegally brought into Mexico from the United States, a crime the Mexican government wants its U.S. counterpart to do more to combat.
In addition to advocating stricter gun control in the United States, López Obrador on Tuesday once again expressed relief that Trump wasn’t killed when a gunman shot at him as he spoke at a rally on Saturday evening.
“We feel good that nothing happened to former president Trump,” he said before acknowledging the “friendship” he and his government have with the 78-year-old Republican currently vying to return to the White House for a second term.
“I won’t forget that when I got COVID on one occasion he called me and sent me a packet of medicine. … I was already being treated, so I turned it over to the nutrition institute,” he said, referring to the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition.
“He was no longer president, but he demonstrated that kindness,” López Obrador said.
Mexico News Daily
Gun control means MORE shootings, like in Chicago, or like in Mexico, where 37 politicians were killed this election season. No manches.
Give us some rational thought , not some conclusion.
Without getting into guns I will say that I enjoy being at my house in Mexico. Ride my motorcycles, eat out almost everyday, watch YouTube, listen to music, enjoy my casa on a non expat community. Even though I have every American tv station I rarely look at them. It’s just different being here.
If cars need to be registered so should guns. The gun violence in Chicago is due in part to neighboring States such as Indiana and Missouri. Thousands of innocent people in Mexico are killed by guns brought in large part from the United States. Gun control is urgently needed now!
sure, just follow the Mexico model of gun control, we will all be super safe
ALMO the clown talks tough with security while citizens get murdered Dailey by drug cartels.
How is the US complaint about illegal smuggling of drugs, including fentanyl, from Mexico any different than the illegal smuggling of guns from the US into Mexico? Everyone knows what Mexico is trying to do to limit drug smuggling, and can count the number of her citizens and soldiers harmed or killed in the fight, but to what extent does the US do anything to stop guns from being smuggled into Mexico? How many US citizens, soldiers, or agents are harmed or killed protection Mexico from guns? Instead I think I read there are nearly 10,000 guns stores and shops on the US side of border between the countries
Mexico blames us for their gun problems and are not willing to do anything other than complain.
First, not all guns come from the US
second, if you live in Mexico the gun market is wide open for ALL
third, some guns are manufactured in Mexico illegally
Asia and Europe exchange guns for drugs
Mexico does not have a Border Patrol, their customs officials are about all corrupt and there is no interest in doing in Mexico to stop the flow from the US, the Oceans, Central and South America..
anything else?
Gun control is safety (off), clear field of sighting, breath proper, and definitive squeeze: bag ’em & tag ’em (right big toe). These days gun control means only that the shooter knows and uses only the proper caliber and powder load ammo for the firearm. In numerous foreign nations firearms purchased are picked up at law enforcement or military facilities (or other government disbursing locales). Mexico administers a similar system. Every person in Mexico with whom I’ve ever discussed this with says that the system contributes to the huge numbers of firearms smuggled into Mexico from the United States. Does anybody recall “Fast & Furious”?
I agree the USA needs to do something about gun control. Sadly I don’t think that will ever happen in my lifetime. That being said Mexico needs to do something about drug manufacturing and the flow of those drugs to the north. Drugs flow north, guns flow south!!!
López Obrador should say control over cartel activity ‘urgently needed’ in Mexico.