Mexicali lie on 'assault weapons:' Just the latest gun factoid

April 3, 3:06 PMCharlotte Gun Rights ExaminerPaul Valone

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Lies in pursuit of gun control are nothing new: What has changed is your ability to counter those lies 

Yesterday, a FOXNews.com report blew apart the latest gun-related “factoid” being bandied about not only by gun control organizations and politicians, but also by the allegedly mainstream media: What you’ve been told about 90% of the guns being used by Mexican drug gangs being smuggled from the U.S. is a lie. In truth, we now find, the number is closer to 17%, with the vast majority of the guns which fuel Mexican drug violence coming from:

• Foreign sources, including the Russian mafia, South America and China; and
• The black market, including the perennially corrupt Mexican military.

  .50-caliber lies: Tom Diaz testifies with .50-caliber rifle for Congress. Alex Brandon / Associated Press

HOW THEY LIED

To create this misperception among the American public and fuel calls for re-implementing the “assault weapon” ban, gun control advocates have systematically misstated gun tracing reports by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE).

For example, the Associated Press reported: “Federal officials say about 90 percent of guns seized in Mexican organized crimes came from the U.S.” In truth, however, 90% of the guns traced by the BATFE were found to originate in the U.S. – which sounds damning until you discover that only a tiny fraction of the guns seized were ever traced.

The vast majority of guns seized in Mexico are not traced, including:

• Military arms not legally available in the U.S., including machine guns, rocket propelled grenades, and a whopping 2,239 hand grenades; and
• Guns which obviously were never sold legally in the U.S., typically because they lack serial numbers required under U.S. law.

Indeed, in 2007 and 2008, the Mexican government seized roughly 29,000 guns, of which only 6,000 were traced. Of the 6,000 traced, 5,114 came from the U.S. – which translates to 17.6% of the total number of guns seized.

Admitted the Los Angeles Times:

“Grenades or military-grade weapons have been reported in at least 10 Mexican states during the last six months, used against police headquarters, city halls, a U.S. consulate, TV stations and senior Mexican officials. In a three-week period ended March 6, five grenade attacks were launched on police patrols and stations and the home of a commander in the south-central state of Michoacan. Other such attacks occurred in five other states during the same period.”

WHO LIED

The fabrication was spread by the usual suspects, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Senator Dianne Feinstein and CBS newsman Bob Schieffer, among others.

Especially noteworthy was the near-perjury of author and Violence Policy Center “Senior Policy Analyst” Tom Diaz in a hearing on guns and Mexico held by the Congressional Subcommittee on National Security & Foreign Affairs:

“It is beyond question that firearms from the U.S. civilian gun market are fueling violence not only on both sides of the U.S./Mexico Border, but in Mexico itself …

“Military-style weapons heavily marketed by the U.S. civilian gun industry are the drug cartels’ weapons of choice …

“U.S. and Mexican officials report that, based on ATF tracing data, the cartels get between 90 percent and 95 percent of their firearms from the United States …”

THE GOOD NEWS

Lies in the pursuit of gun control are nothing new, of course. During gun control’s last heyday in the 1990s, some media outlet undoubtedly told you the following:

• “A gun in the home is 43 times more likely to be used against a family member or acquaintance than an intruder. (Source: A biased study from Arthur Kellermann which counted gang murderers who happened to know each other as “acquaintances.”)
• Or how about this one? “Between 1979 and 1991, 50,000 children were killed by guns.” (Justification: Counting gang-bangers up the tender age of 24 as “children.”)

The difference is that, unlike the 1990s, “new media” such as the Gun Rights Examiners of examiner.com and other Internet sources have given you new weapons in the arsenal of truth. The rest, however, is up to you. Now that FOXNews has provided the ammunition, it’s time to lock and load.

North Carolina gun voters: Congressman David Price (D-4) has demanded a report detailing Border Patrol efforts and what weapons are allegedly being smuggled into Mexico. Call him and ask where his concerns were when Americans for Better Immigration rated him D- on "Border Control." Price has voted with gun owners exactly 0% of the time; his wife, Lisa Price, until recently headed North Carolinians "Against Gun Violence."
 

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