Texas has has produced more guns seized by police in the Mexican drug wars than any other state. No single independent dealer stands out more for selling guns traced from south of the border than Bill Carter of Houston, reports the Washington Post. Carter, 76, has operated four Carter’s Country stores in the Houston metropolitan area over the past half-century. In the past two years, more than 115 guns from his stores have been seized by the police and military in Mexico.
As an unprecedented number of American guns flows to the drug cartels across the border, the identities of U.S. dealers that sell guns seized at Mexican crime scenes remain confidential under a 2003 federal law. A year-long investigation by the Post found the names of the top 12 U.S. dealers of guns traced to Mexico in the past two years. Eight of the top dealers are in Texas, three are in Arizona, and one is in California. More than 60,000 U.S. guns have been recovered in Mexico in four years, helping fuel violence that has contributed to 30,000 deaths. Mexican President Felipe Calderon has urged President Obama and the U.S. Congress to stop the flow of guns south.