U.S. STANCE ON GUN SMUGGLING COULD AFFECT B.C.

Wants Senate To Ratify Arms Treaty

U.S. President Barack Obama's push to crack down on weapons smuggling
is an encouraging move that could help B.C.'s war on drugs, according
to a B.C. political science professor.

But others aren't so sure and say Obama's announcement is nothing
more than "smoke and mirrors."

Last week, Obama backed Mexico's war on its violent drug cartels,
calling for a crackdown on weapons trafficking and admitting shared
responsibility.

Obama said in Mexico Thursday he would ask the U.S. Senate to ratify
a long-stalled regional arms-trafficking treaty following Mexican
requests to stem the flow of U.S. guns to its drug cartels. The 1997
arms treaty requires countries to take a number of steps to reduce
the illegal manufacture and trade in guns, ammunition and explosives.

The treaty also calls for countries to adopt strict licensing
requirements, mark firearms to make them easier to trace and
establish information-sharing processes between national
law-enforcement agencies investigating arms smuggling.

Canada and 32 other nations have already signed the 12-year-old treaty.

The U.S. is one of four countries yet to ratify the convention,
formally known as the Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit
Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives
and other Related Items.

"I'm very encouraged by this development because it signals a U.S.
administration that's willing to stand up to the gun lobby," said
Michael Byers, a University of B.C. political science professor.

"The resistance to any restrictions [on gun control] has impeded the
kind of co-operation we need. We've had a focus on stopping drugs
from moving across the border but we haven't addressed in any
substantial way the counter-flow of guns. And obviously, people do
not kill people with marijuana. They kill them with guns."

But Gary Mauser, a Simon Fraser University professor emeritus who has
studied the issue of gun control, says even if the U.S. Senate
ratifies the treaty, "it won't change anything on the ground."

"There's a large number of rules and regulations regarding firearms,"
says Mauser.

"But criminals have no interest in following those rules and there
are people who will violate those laws to sell them to [criminals]
because it's big business."

Mauser says change will only be made if the U.S. and Canada commit
significant resources to anti-smuggling investigations.

B.C.'s alarming increase in shootings in public places -- most often
by gang members involved in the drug trade -- has become a pressing
safety concern in recent years.

And the gun violence can be partly attributed to the greater access
to illegal guns that are either sourced locally or smuggled in from
the U.S., according to the report titled The Illegal Movement of
Firearms in B.C.

The report, commissioned by the provincial government and released in
February, also said B.C. police don't have enough resources to
conduct major investigations on gun trafficking.

In response, the B.C. government announced in February it will
establish a new weapons enforcement unit to investigate crimes
involving illegal guns.