Not just Mexico anymore: Congressman Eliot Engel expands the '90%' meme to Jamaica

May 14, 3:54 AMSt. Louis Gun Rights ExaminerKurt Hofmann

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    Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY)

I've mentioned Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY) before, regarding his letter to President Obama, urging him to impose an executive order banning the importation of so-called "assault weapons."  Here's Engel's justification for taking that course of action:

Over 90% of firearms confiscated yearly in Mexico orginate in the United States.

In other words, although the supposed exportation of firearms was cited as the problem, the banning of their importation was offered as the solution.

Even ignoring that strange bit of "logic," a major problem with that idea (beyond, of course, the fact that criminal misuse of smuggled firearms in other countries does not constitute a legitimate reason to attack our rights in the U.S.), is that the "90%" figure has zero basis in reality (Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea has been following that story, and helping to expose that lie, for quite a while now, and provided a nice summary yesterday).

Perhaps because more and more of the public is catching on to the fact that "90%" of the Mexican drug cartels' guns do not come from the U.S., Engel is looking for a new angle (sorry--couldn't help myself), and is now applying the "90%" figure to Jamaica, as well.

In February, I visited both Mexico and Jamaica. In both countries, over 90 percent of the weapons recovered and traced by police come from the United States.

This is simply unacceptable.

I have urged the Obama Administration to enforce the ban on imported assault weapons, which was previously enforced by the administrations of Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

This is not a Second Amendment issue, as this import ban only applies to halting shipments of assault weapons with no sporting purpose at and before they reach US borders.

Enforcing this import ban – which is independent of the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 – requires no legislative action and would be a win-win for the US and our partners in the Americas.

Hard numbers on seized firearms in Jamaica have eluded me, so far, but I have little reason to expect those numbers to be any more accurate with regard to Jamaica than has been the case with Mexico.  Note also that Engel could not resist dismissing the Second Amendment as an obstacle to such a ban, because of the supposed lack of a "sporting purpose" of the firearms in question (as if 10% of the Bill of Rights was devoted to the protection of sport).

Just as the Mexican government enthusiastically supports attacks on Americans' gun rights, the Jamaican ambassador to the U.S., Anthony Johnson, is also eager for more U.S. gun laws.

Jamaica’s Ambassador to Washington Anthony Johnson has called on the American government to put strong legislation in place to stem the trafficking of small arms to Jamaica and other Caribbean territories.

The Ambassador, who is Jamaica’s Permanent Representative to the Organisation of American States (OAS), was speaking to JIS News on Thursday prior to his departure for Trinidad and Tobago to attend the Fifth Summit of the Americas.

He said that “Jamaica is concerned about the trafficking of small arms into the country, and tougher measures must be put in place to eradicate this major problem once and for all.”

Ambassador Johnson was unclear about the details of this "strong legislation," but I imagine it's a pretty safe bet that it would somehow involve making semi-automatic rifles more difficult to buy in the U.S.  In other words, the rabidly anti-gun Obama administration has yet another foreign ally in the war on American gun owners.

More of the "blame America for Jamaican violence" theme:

The United States is taking drastic steps to address the traffic of arms to Mexico, Jamaica and other countries. More resources are being committed to border inspections and American authorities are cracking down on illegal shipments of weapons abroad. But these measures will have limited effectiveness unless they are accompanied by controls on the sale of weapons in the United States.

Many of the weapons used in drug violence come from rogue dealers, but some are bought at gun shows and legitimate dealers by purchasers who transfer them to a third party - so-called "straw purchases."

As long as assault rifles and other lethal weapons are freely available in the United States – at gun shows for example - neighboring countries such as Jamaica will remain at risk. The freedom to "bear arms" may be a matter of their Constitutional right to Americans, but to Jamaicans it is a matter of life and death.

There are, by the way, Jamaicans who see things considerably differently.

Jamaica has had more than 34 years of experience with gun control and we can say resoundingly that it does not work. The cries of "get those guns" are cries of mass hysteria and shared delusions. The American military and Coast Guard have been unable to prevent most contraband from entering their shores. How can we expect our security forces to prevent all illegal guns from entering our island? For all the hundreds of guns that are recovered by the police each year, there are hundreds more that have not been detected. The criminal gunmen will always have guns. Leaving good people defenceless against violent criminals who have shown their commitment to taking lives is a sin.

The emphasis on that last sentence is my own.  On second thought, though, that might not have been necessary.  The simple, powerful truth of that statement speaks for itself, without my help.