Why does Homeland Security's gun smuggling report mislead law enforcement?

April 15, 8:46 AMGun Rights ExaminerDavid Codrea

Previous Next

10 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Gun Rights Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Ask for Report ICE-00187-09 in FOIA requests.

Yesterday, we talked about Homeland Security's "Rightwing Extremism" report. I was able to give you a link to the document itself because it has been unclassified.

The picture on the right is the cover of their "Intelligence Report: United States Southbound Weapons Smuggling Assessment." I can't refer you to the document itself because it is marked "OFFICIAL USE ONLY - LAW ENFORCEMENT SENSITIVE."

What I will do is share a few highlights that are germane to recent discussions we've been having.

A "Key Finding":

Outbound firearms seizures are highly likely to be associated with non-US persons.

Whew! That's a relief. So it's not the fault of American gun owners?

A "Background" assertion:

Open-source reporting alleges as much as 90% of weapons used by Mexican organized crime derive from US sources as a result of lenient American gun laws that subvert strict Mexican anti-gun laws.

Now hold the phone. We've not only shown that's a lie, but that it's a damned lie. Why is an agency of the federal government misrepresenting not only the numbers but also the laws to the law enforcement community?

From their "Weapons of Choice" section:

There is no evidence of outbound seizures involving any active explosive devices, grenade launchers, or fully-automatic machine guns during the reporting period.

Really? Somebody want to tell that to sweetie here? And isn't that what people like me have been saying all along...?

The government has no business keeping reports like these under wraps, particularly when they are used to undermine fundamental protections against government infringement articulated in the Bill of Rights. This is information citizens are entitled to know about, and the shame of it is, we won't get it from any of the investor-funded globe-spanning "news" corporations with their staffs of researchers, reporters, editors, producers--you know, the "government watchdogs." You're getting it from one guy with extremely limited reach. Forget most Americans--most gun owners will never see this. If you want them to, it's up to you to share the link to this column with them.

They say a picture's worth a thousand words, and the one I included in this column is no exception. It's just another element in the greater deception, but a key one, since it sets the tone for the report that follows.

See that gun? Do you know what it is?

That's a Heckler and Koch MP5K. Got time to take a quick tour with me?

Go to their website.

Click on the "law enforcement & military products" link.

Now click on the "Submachine Guns & PDWs" link.

Then click on the MP5K graphic.

Go ahead and read the specs.

We're not only talking about a type of gun DHS's own report says they have "no evidence of outbound seizures" for, but one that is restricted by our "lenient American gun laws that subvert strict Mexican anti-gun laws" to law enforcement and military personnel.

So why was a conscious decision made to use that image on the cover of their "illegal" gun smuggling report?

And one more important aside: This report was written on the watch of the Bush administration.  Where infringements on the right to keep and bear arms are concerned, I have been consistently critical of Republicans as well as Democrats. 

------------

Still milking the 90% lie for all it's worth

Per Press TV:

In an interview with CBS on Sunday, Arturo Sarukhan attributed 90% of the weapons in Mexico to the US, saying the influx of guns is due to the expiration of an assault-weapons ban in the US in 2004.

Why would we expect it to be the job of an "Authorized Journalist" to investigate the truth of claims, when repeating this so conveniently fits their agenda?

------------

Where does she do her shopping??

Per the Daily Mail:

Officers recovered a vast cache of weapons including an anti-aircraft gun capable of firing 800 shots per minute, five rifles, a grenade and part of a grenade launcher...

Cartels have increasingly got hold of higher-powered weapons including military-grade arms such as grenades and machine guns.

Hey--no fair. How come Mexicans can get things in gun stores and from gun shows that Americans can't? What? They didn't get these there? Then where did they get them? And if not from us, from whom?

------------

More about Mexican guns

See "The facts about guns being used in the Mexican drug wars" by Denver Outdoors Examiner Jeremy Kaiser.

------------

Why not throw a little global "gun control" into the mix?

From Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, in The New York Times:

We especially encourage the debate on the issue of reinstating the 1994 U.S. ban on assault rifles that expired in 2004. And we support further debate within the United States on whether to close the gun show and private sale loopholes in existing U.S. laws, which create boundless opportunities for criminals to acquire illicit weapons. These legislative changes do not affect law-abiding hunters and sport shooters in any way.

It ain't about sport, sport. I'll have more to say on this later, but will leave readers now with a question:

What do you call a U.S. legislator who has sworn an oath to support and defend the Constitution and who would then endanger the security of a free state by infringing on the right of the people to keep and bear arms at the behest of foreign powers?

I know there's a word for it...

------------

Bill pulled in Oregon

Per OFF:

The best information we have is that Democrats on the committee (who claimed to support the original bill) are now trying to change it to make if far more restrictive.

Click here for more information.