(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
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The percentage of American guns used by Mexican criminals keeps dropping, or at least the number used by those who don't want you to own semiautomatic firearms is coming down.
It wasn't that long ago Brady Board Member Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Brady Campaign President Paul Helmke were using their major media amplifiers to tell us, in no uncertain terms:
American gun sellers supply the cartels with 95 to 100 percent of their guns, according to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
This claim was echoed by Violence Policy Center analyst Tom Diaz in a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee meeting.
Other claims came down a bit, but not by much:
More than 90% of the guns used by the drug cartels originate from U.S. gun sellers
When it was demonstrated for all to see that numbers were being fudged from the intentionally limited number of guns the Mexican government submitted to the U.S. for tracing, all of a sudden guys like Diaz were covering their tracks by claiming the numbers game was "a red herring and...that it should not detract from the effort to stop gun trafficking into Mexico."
Sweet. Start an argument based on lying numbers, and when the lie is pointed out and it's clear you've lost the argument, take the position that numbers don't matter. And keep pressing to impose new citizen disarmament edicts anyway.
Except now we have a new red herring number. It's 80%. Calderon is using it and the Bradys are using it. And yeah, all the same old flaw are still there.
Which leads me to the statement of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, probably the most concise and thorough refutation I've come across:
Some 29,000 firearms were recovered in Mexico in 2008, of which approximately 5,000 were traced to U.S. sources. That means more than 80 percent of the firearms recovered in Mexico were not traced to the United States. Furthermore, according to the ATF, those firearms traced were originally sold at retail not recently, but on average 14 years earlier. This is completely inconsistent with any notion that a flood of newly purchased firearms are being illegally smuggled over the border into Mexico. And let's not forget, no retail firearms sale can be made in the U.S. until after a criminal background check on the purchaser has been completed.
In recent years as many as 150,000 Mexican soldiers, 17,000 last year alone, defected to go work for the drug cartels -- bringing their American-made service-issued firearms with them. It has also been well documented that the drug cartels are illegally smuggling fully automatic firearms, grenades and other weapons into Mexico from South and Central America. Such items are not being purchased at retail firearms stores in the United States.
I know, I know. Don't bother us with "red herrings."
You know, facts.
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Did Marriott say "Uncle"?
Has the work of Paul Valone and Grassroots North Carolina resulted in Marriott hotels reversing their anti-gun policy? Paul says they say the "No Guns" signs will come down.
Let's hope it's in time for the Quality Deer Management Association convention in Louisville...
Comments
Doesn't seem like we can find a single instance of the use of accurate information in the drive to eviscerate or remove the rights of honest folk. Makes ya feel all warm and fuzzy inside, doesn't it?
We need to be pointing out the fraud every chance we get. We also need to keep pointing out the gall of the anti's when we can prove them wrong and they say it doesn't matter. This with the links will be on my blog before lunch is over. Along with links on face book. We all need to spread the word.
Superb article: wonderfully resilient with highly useful information and empirical evidence. This is why I keep reading your articles.
This information MUST be repeated ad nauseum in the 'main stream' press until some of it actually gets through to the Information Consumers.
Those Americans living in the Southwest will soon arrive at a turning point: they're on the cusp of it now, as the passage of their new Immigration Enforcement Law clearly shows.
The recently introduced legislation pertaining to revitalizing the 14th Amendment in its original construct; ie, its intended use ONLY for recently freed slaves and NOT foreign nationals popping out 'anchor babies', is another signpost that millions of Americans are waking up to the failed actions/inactions of the US Govt.
Great article.
Cheers
VOTE GUNGRABBERS OUT OF OFFICE 2010-2012.
The figures are a manufactured excuse to support a treaty or legislation to limit arms in this country. Certainly, Calderon and Obama don't for a second believe that any ban will have the slightest impact on the cartels and violence in Mexico...or here. And really, that should be the news to spread...They Don't Really Care!!!
I'm afraid I agree with Ed. They don't care. They know they are lying. This is not a debate between honest men with different viewpoints. The other side is not honest, they know they are lying. They intend to keep it up. The only way to stop a determined liar is to hit him in the mouth. When are we gonna?
Oh, they care all right. Just not about the truth so much. This is the "never let a crisis go to waste" bunch. If they can spin the Mexican meltdown into a gutting of 2A, either through domestic legislation or an interpretation that a treaty "supercedes" the constitution, they will. Time for "Blue Helmet Day" at the range!
Mexico needs MORE guns. In the hands of the *good* guys (you know, the only people the gun "laws" actually disarm).
Not only is the 80% quote a lie, but there is another bit of misdirection regarding some of those confiscated firearms. The ones traced back to the US are mostly taken from Mexican citizens who simply bought them for protection in spite of the highly restrictive gun control laws in Mexico. These guns are purchased legally by legitimate Mexican workers in the US and smuggled across the border on visits back home. They are a highly desired commodity and a way for the vacationers to help pay for their visit home. This is an obvious violation of Mexican law and arguably violates the letter of straw purchase restrictions, but I fail to see any serious harm to the US in this practice.
Uncle Lar raises an interesting point, thanks! And sorry to double dip but his point makes me wonder: Why can't we see the public records of the purchases in the US that wound up being seized by Mexican Police...aren't those public records here, or am I wrong on that point??? Haven't herd of any mass prosecutions, so what's up? Call them on their lies!
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