Mexico has been upping its calls in recent years for the U.S. to do more to combat the trafficking of firearms into the country. And officials say the ballistic forensics training this week by ATF agents in Sonora was part of that effort.
"This training on the proper identification of weapons and explosives is an essential part of combatting the illegal trafficking of firearms. The correct identification of those artifacts allows us to work together to identify their origin and tracked down the buyer," Armando Ochoa of the ATF in Tijuana.
Finding out how guns are acquired and trafficked to Mexico is an essential to stopping the flow of guns across the border, officials said.
The three-day training included about 42 agents from Sonora and Baja California, as well as the detector dogs they work with.
The training also comes after the Mexican government filed a historic lawsuitagainst U.S. gun manufacturers last year, alleging that negligent practices have allowed the illegal flow of weapons across the border to drug cartels.
