The United States and Mexico are cooperating to stem the flow of illegal arms flowing into Mexico from US gun shows.

From the Dallas Morning News:

Tons of heroin and cocaine move north across the Southwestern border. And millions of dollars and truckloads of weapons move south – feeding the escalating levels of violence that have turned parts of Mexico into war zones and spread as far as North Texas.

At least 80 percent of all of the weapons used by drug traffickers in Mexico to kill one another as well as police and soldiers come from the U.S., Mexican officials say. They’ve repeatedly asked the U.S. government for more help in stopping the flow of weapons from Texas and other border states into Mexico.

On Monday, U.S. and Mexican customs investigation officials unveiled a cooperative effort called Armas Cruzadas to disrupt cross-border weapons smuggling through the sharing of databases and better monitoring of illicit sales at guns shops and guns shows.

And on Tuesday, the U.S. House authorized spending $1.6 billion over the next three years to help Mexico and other countries counter growing drug violence, including $74 million for the Justice Department to stem the flow of guns south. Funding, however, will have to come separately.