As photos of toddlers huddled under aluminum-foil blankets on concrete floors behind bars emerged, Republicans and Democrats alike were startled by the inhumane conditions that these migrant children, the majority of them from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, have survived after fleeing for their lives into the United States with their families. As debate rages for the best tactics to reunite these children with their parents and who is ultimately responsible, the causes of the violence they have been forced to flee isn’t getting any better. In fact, it’s getting worse. And the United States, and our gun laws, are a major factor.

Last year, Mexico tallied a staggering 29,168 homicides, the country’s highest murder rate since statistical counting began. El Salvador racked up the highest per capita murder rate of any country (with the exception of war-zones), with a shocking 109 per 100,000 inhabitants. Now, let’s compare that to Chicago, a city notorious for its gun violence problem. Last year, Chicago’s homicide rate was less than ¼ of El Salvador’s. But in a place like Mexico, where there are stringent requirements for purchasing a gun, and only one gun store in the entire country, the bloodshed is being fueled by the same country that turns away the victims of these weapons...the United States. Every year, over 250,000 guns are smuggled across the border, but in a different direction than many people think; they’re going south.

As horrendous as the weapons trafficking problem in the United States already is, the Trump administration wants to make it exponentially easier. Under a proposed rule, oversight for weapons like assault rifles, sniper rifles, and semi-automatic pistols, would be transferred from the State Department to the Commerce Department, and many existing regulations would be substantially weakened. The State Department’s considerations for national (and international) security and human rights, coupled with Congressional oversight, has prevented potentially catastrophic damage to human life with guns made right here in the United States. In 2017, after Turkish security forces publicly beat protestors in Washington, D.C., Congress halted a $1.2 million sale of 1,600 semi-automatic pistols that would be used by that agency. Before that, 26,000 assault weapons were prevented from being put in the hands of Philippines police after human rights concerns were raised. Under the proposed rule, weapons of war would soon be regulated by the same agency that handles exports of soybeans, auto parts, and oil. Really?

The rule is being widely supported by the gun industry, whose domestic demand is in deep decline, as an antidote to falling profits. We have watched human life destroyed time and time again, as cowardly elected officials have prioritized re-election and a powerful lobby over children in their classrooms, worshippers in their church, families at the movie theatre, and teenagers walking down the street. We have seen the horrific consequences of inaction here at home, and we have chosen to blind ourselves to the violence we are fueling abroad. This President, more than any other in modern history, has branded himself the greatest defender of the 2nd Amendment that the oval office has seen in years. And now he wants to bring that same mentality to countries all across the globe that have taken the responsible stand of trying to protect their citizens from the same fear and terror that Americans feel --knowing they could be the next victim of gun violence.

That terror has already reached others. Many citizens of countries like Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, feel they have no other option but to flee for their lives. They run to America, where the President has disparaged them and discriminated against them, and locked up their children. “Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses." might need the addendum...but only if you buy our guns.