Reps. Castro, Escobar, Frost, and Senator Durbin Introduce Stop Arming Cartels Act
Bicameral legislation builds on the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to prevent trafficking of high-caliber weapons from the United States
WASHINGTON — This week, Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Congressman Maxwell Frost (FL-10), and Senator Dick Durbin (IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, led the bicameral introduction of the Stop Arming Cartels Act, legislation that aims to address the sale and trafficking of firearms from the United States to transnational criminal organizations abroad.
The introduction comes as an estimated 200,000 to 500,000 American-made guns are trafficked into Mexico annually, largely attributable to unlicensed gun dealers, straw purchasers, and thefts from federal firearms licensees.
The Stop Arming Cartels Act seeks to stem the high volume of firearms trafficking from the United States to Mexico and other nations. According to a 2021 study from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, 70 percent of crime guns recovered in Mexico from 2014-2018 and submitted for tracing were U.S.-sourced. The deadly stream of firearms trafficking exacerbates violence, enables cartels who smuggle migrants to the southern border, and facilitates the illicit trade of narcotics, including fentanyl, across the border back into the United States.
“For years, Republicans have taken an increasingly brutal approach to immigration while refusing to address the role that U.S. guns play in fueling the violence and instability that force families to flee from their homes,” said Congressman Castro. “When I meet with leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean, their number one request is for the United States to stop the gun trafficking that originates within our borders. In Mexico in particular, high-caliber weapons smuggled from the United States have allowed cartels to shoot down police helicopters, attack military convoys, and undercut public faith in law and order. The Stop Arming Cartels Act will make important progress to stem the deadly flow of guns from the United States and build stability across the globe. I appreciate Senator Durbin’s leadership on this issue in the Senate as well as the leadership of Congresswoman Escobar, Congressman Frost, and our co-sponsors in the House. I hope our Republican colleagues will join us as we work to pass this lifesaving bill into law.”
"The gun laws championed by Republican legislators in this country make Americans less safe. The consequences don't just impact our communities, but they also impact our neighbors in Latin America and around the world," said Congresswoman Escobar. "A refusal to act would mean continuing to arm transnational criminal organizations and cartels that purchase these weapons for illicit acts. I'm proud to join my colleagues Representatives Castro and Frost, Senator Durbin, and our other cosponsors to introduce the Stop Arming Cartels Act that would strengthen rifle regulations and prohibit the sale of certain rifles to prevent further violence and bloodshed."
“Just as our gun laws have allowed for far too many lives to be lost at the hands of gun violence, these same laws have also allowed for the flow of guns into Mexico, South America, and beyond — bringing these communities pain, loss, and devastation,” said Congressman Frost. “I'm proud to join Reps. Castro and Escobar and Senator Durbin in introducing the Stop Arming Cartels Act to help stop the illegal flow of guns, help weaken the power of these dangerous cartels, and to save lives.”
“Our country’s lax gun laws have created a deadly, vicious cycle of firearms trafficking that’s riddled with violence and chaos, resulting in a consistent transfer of fentanyl across our border,” said Senator Durbin. “Our gun laws and gun industry practices fuel an iron river of firearms trafficking that supplies Mexican drug cartels and other criminal elements in the region, and it’s time to cut off the iron river at its source. With the Stop Arming Cartels Act, we can disarm cartels and help prevent the violence, drug trafficking, and irregular migration associated with cartel power and violence at home and abroad.”
Reporting over the last several years indicates that .50 caliber rifles have increasingly become the weapons of choice for Mexican cartels in their attacks against Mexican law enforcement and rival criminal organizations. These weapons are most often acquired through straw purchases in the United States and trafficked across the border to Mexico. Unlike smaller assault rifles that have been the primary weapons in mass shootings in the United States, .50 caliber rifles are powerful enough to down helicopters and destroy armored vehicles.
The Stop Arming Cartels Act will address these challenges by:
- Prohibiting future nongovernmental manufacture, importation, sale, transfer, or possession of .50 caliber rifles.
- Regulating existing .50 caliber rifles under the National Firearms Act, with a fee waiver and 12-month grace period for registration on the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record for those who lawfully possess them under current law.
- Creating an exception to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), allowing victims of gun violence to sue manufacturers and dealers who engage in firearm transactions prohibited under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (the “Kingpin Act”).
- Prohibiting the sale or transfer of firearms to individuals sanctioned under the Kingpin Act and add Kingpin Act designations to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
- Requiring firearms dealers to report multiple sales of rifles to state and local law enforcement agencies, as they must currently do for handguns.
The full text of the Stop Arming Cartels Act can be found here.
The Stop Arming Cartels Act is co-sponsored by Reps. Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-ATL), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Greg Casar (TX-35), Julia Brownley (CA-26), Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04), Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07), Seth Magaziner (RI-02), Jake Auchincloss (MA-04), Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05), Salud Carbajal (CA-24), and Juan Vargas (CA-52).
The bill is endorsed by Brady: United Against Gun Violence, Everytown for Gun Safety, GIFFORDS, March for Our Lives, Stop U.S. Arms to Mexico/Global Exchange, Global Action on Gun Violence, Amnesty International, People’s Movement for Peace and Justice, Everytown for Gun Safety, Center for American Progress, Latin America Working Group, Newtown Action Alliance, and Washington Office on Latin America.
Congressman Castro has been a longtime leader in efforts to prevent gun violence and stem the illegal trafficking of U.S. firearms across the Western Hemisphere. Recent efforts include:
- In March 2024, Reps. Castro and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), along with Senators Chris Murphy (CT) and Tim Kaine (VA), introduced the Caribbean Arms Trafficking Causes Harm (CATCH) Act, legislation designed to curb illicit arms trafficking from the United States to the Caribbean.
- In December 2023, Reps. Castro, Norma Torres (CA-35), Dan Goldman (NY-10), and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20) led more than a dozen of their colleagues to introduce the Americas Regional Monitoring of Arms Sales (ARMAS) Act, legislation that would mobilize resources across the federal government to disrupt firearms trafficking from the United States to Latin America and the Caribbean and implement stronger transparency, accountability, and oversight for U.S. arms exports.
- In September 2023, Reps. Castro, Torres (CA-35), and Dan Goldman (NY-10), along with Senator Warren, sent a letter to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, seeking answers on Commerce's lackluster oversight of assault weapons exports and its failure to release data on its approvals of these exports.
- In April 2023, Reps. Castro (TX-20) and Gregory W. Meeks (NY-05), along with Senator Dick Durbin (IL), wrote to the Comptroller General of the U.S. Government Accountability Office calling for a federal probe into the consequences of firearms trafficking from the United States to the Caribbean. The report, which was subsequently released in November 2024, found that 73% of guns recovered in the Caribbean can be traced back to the United States.
- In 2022, Congressman Castro voted to pass, and President Biden signed into law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant gun violence prevention reform in nearly three decades. Among its many provisions, the law created new federal criminal offenses for firearm straw purchasing and trafficking.