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.