"Calderón Calls for Restoring Assault Weapons Ban"

Calderon said this during his address:

CALDERON: However, there is one issue where Mexico needs your cooperation. And that is stopping the flow of assault weapon and other deadly arms across the border. Let me be clear on this, I fully respect, I admire, the American Constitution and I understand that the purpose of the Second Amendment is to guarantee good American citizens the ability to defend themselves and their nation. But believe me many of these guns are not going to honest American hands. Instead thousands are ending up in the hands of criminals. Just to give you an idea, we have seized 75,000 guns and assault weapons in Mexico in the past three years, and more than 80 percent of those we have been able to trace came from the United States. And if you look carefully you will notice that the violence in Mexico started to grow a couple of years before I took office in 2006. This coincides, at least, with the lifting of the assault weapons ban in 2004. One day Criminals in Mexico having gained an access to these weapons decided to challenge the authorities in my country. Today these weapons are aimed by the criminals not only at rival gangs but also at Mexican civilians and authorities. And with all due respect, if you do not regulate the sale of these weapons in the right way, nothing guarantees that criminals here in the United States with access to the same power of weapons will not decide to challenge American authorities and civilians. It is true that the US government is now carrying out operations against gun traffickers, but it is also true that there are more than 7,000 gun shops along the border with Mexico were almost anyone can purchase these powerful weapons. I also fully understand the political sensitivity of this issue. But I will ask Congress to help us, with respect, and to understand how important it is for us that you enforce current laws to stem the supply of these weapons to criminals and consider restating the assault weapons ban. Let us by any legal way end this lethal trade that threatens Mexico and your own people.

The LA Times indicates that his claims about murder rates aren't exactly accurate.