In her talk with reporters, Secretary Clinton praised the Calderon administration's performance in the drug fight, saying that Mexican forces are often out-gunned by drug gangs armed with military-style weapons bought in the United States.

VOA: standard.2009.03.25

Rather, those weapons are bought at gun shows, on street corners, over the Internet or from friends or neighbors, Nichols said.

CNN: 'Universal background check:' What does it mean?

Mexican officials point out that many of those weapons are bought at gun shops just over the border in the United States.

ECONOMIST: Mexico

This sort of ambiguity could be useful during the cold war, when Syria bought weapons from the Soviet Union while flirting with American peace proposers.

ECONOMIST: Syria