Turns the familiar story of trafficking across the US-Mexico border on its head, looking at firearms smuggled south from the United States to Mexico and their ricochet effects.
American guns have entangled the lives of people on both sides of the US-Mexico border in a vicious circle of violence. After treating wounded migrants and refugees seeking safety in the United States, anthropologist Ieva Jusionyte boldly embarked on a journey in the opposite direction—following the guns from dealers in Arizona and Texas to crime scenes in Mexico.
An expert work of narrative nonfiction, Exit Wounds provides a rare, intimate look into the world of firearms trafficking and urges us to understand the effects of lax US gun laws abroad. Jusionyte masterfully weaves together the gripping stories of people who live and work with guns north and south of the border: a Mexican businessman who smuggles guns for protection, a teenage girl turned trained assassin, two US federal agents trying to stop gun traffickers, and a journalist who risks his life to report on organized crime. Based on years of fieldwork, Exit Wounds expands current debates about guns in America, grappling with US complicity in violence on both sides of the border.
Contents
Map of the US-Mexico Borderlands
The Workshop
Shape of Wounds
Recruited
Arming the State
With a Side of Beans
Collateral Damage
Ghost Highway
The Last Letter
The Camp
The Player
Poisoned City
Fallen Sovereigns
Blurred Lines
Brothers
Revenge
50 BMG
Attitude
Caged
Homefront
Metal Afterlives
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About This Project: Methods, Ethics, Sources
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
