; and (B) the Eastern Caribbean’s Regional Security System, based in Barbados. (8) Two GAO reports (published in 2021 and 2022, respectively) on firearms trafficking have affirmed that firearms trafficking to Mexico and Central America continues to represent a security concern to the United States, as United States-origin firearms are diverted from legitimate owners and end up in the hands of violent criminals, including drug traffickers and other transnational criminal organizations. A GAO report on the effect of firearms trafficking in the Caribbean has not yet been compiled. (9) In these reports, the Comptroller General found that Federal departments and agencies lacked information and analysis of the firearms trafficking networks in Mexico and Central America, that few efforts of the United States Government in the region focused on firearms trafficking, and that, as a result, such agencies lack a detailed understanding of the firearms trafficking that fuels violence and enables criminals in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. (10) Firearms used to kidnap and kill a group of United States citizens traveling in Matamoros, Mexico were illegally smuggled from the United States into Mexico. The suspect in these killings admitted to federal agents that he purchased firearms in the United States, smuggled them across the border, and knowingly provided them to members of the Gulf Cartel. (11) As the incident specified in paragraph (11) demonstrates, United States-sourced firearms are being smuggled and diverted to cartels implicated in the supply and flow of illegal fentanyl and other dangerous drugs, threatening the public health and safety of United States citizens. (12) In the 2022 GAO report Firearms Trafficking: More Information Needed to Inform U.S. Efforts in Central America , the Comptroller General found that efforts of the United States Government focused on firearms trafficking in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras lacked information about relevant country conditions and