WASHINGTON, DC (Press Release)—Representative Eliot L. Engel, (D-New York), the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, on Tuesday, May 20, called on the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a new assessment on the effectiveness of efforts by the U.S. government to curb the trafficking of firearms to Mexico. In a letter to GAO Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro, Rep. Engel requested information on the progress of agencies across government in meeting challenges in combating illicit sales of firearms in the United States and stemming their flow into Mexico, including federal laws that restrict the collection and reporting of data on firearms purchases.
“We must do much more to stop the illegal flow of firearms from the United States to Mexico. In 2009, the Government Accountability Office released a report that I commissioned on this issue. It showed that 87 percent of the firearms Mexican authorities seized and traced between FY 2004 and FY 2008 originated in the United States,” Rep. Engel said at a Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the state of relations between the United States and Mexico.
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Preceding provided by Congressman Elliot Engel