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President Felipe Calderón of Mexico unveiled a “No More Weapons!” billboard made with crushed firearms on Feb. 17 near an international bridge in Ciudad Juárez. The billboard, which is in English and weighs three tons, can be seen from the United States. Calderón said the billboard’s letters were made out of weapons seized by local, state and federal authorities. “Dear friends of the United States, Mexico needs your help to stop this terrible violence that we’re suffering,” Calderón said in English during the unveiling ceremony. “The best way to do this is to stop the flow of automatic weapons into Mexico.” Before unveiling the billboard, Calderón supervised the destruction of more than 7,500 automatic rifles and handguns at a military base in Ciudad Juárez. Calderón said more than 140,000 weapons have been seized since December 2006, when he launched a crackdown against drug traffickers. More than 47,500 people have been killed since then.

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