CNN "exposes" illegal gun trafficking

[A-R]

Not sure if this is correct forum, but this has become a political issue for sure ...

CNN is running a series of stories right out of the anti-RKBA playbook recently with local Texan reporter Ed Lavendara doing the reporting. One story is about local ordinances in Pennsylvania towns making it a crime to not report a lost or stolen gun within 24 hours.

Another is about multiple straw purchases from Houston gun shops ending up being used by drug gangs to kill people in Mexico.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/17/car ... tml?hpt=C2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I actually like that ATF is prosecuting these straw purchasers. Great to crack down on that. But I despise how ATF, media, and anti-RKBA politicians keep painting this as some huge problem that is the fault of the American gun culture/lack of enough regulations etc.

Here's the stat I want to see regarding all these straw purchases leading to murders in Mexico. How many OTHER murders/shootings happen in Mexico with guns that are NOT traced back to the US? And what is the percentage?

This story sites 55 murders traced back to these straw purchases in Houston. Seems high, but OK for sake of argument, I'll concede that point. And worth noting that this is not 55 murders this year, these crimes date back to 2007 or earlier.

Now how many total murders occured with firearms in Mexico in the same time frame? How many more of these guns were traced back to the US?

I don't have the numbers, but I'll bet a box of .380 ammo that the number of guns illegally purchased in the US and later used in murders in Mexico accounts of less than 2% of all murders committed in Mexico within the given time frame.

[Beiruty]

how the guns ended in Mexico?

[5thGenTexan]

by Beiruty » Wed Feb 17, 2010 11:28 pm
how the guns ended in Mexico?

The same vehicals that the drugs were in on the trip north? Supplied as partial payment in place of the cash on a drug deal. The problem isn't US gun laws the problem is the sieve we call a border with Mexico

[cowboymd]

And there is always the old argument that Mexico can build a fence to keep the guns out.

[sjfcontrol]

[A-R]

And there is always the old argument that Mexico can build a fence to keep the guns out.

Or they could ban all people crossing the border from possessing so much as a single bullet ... oh wait

[Skydivesnake]

I wonder how many were US Govt owned firearms, given that a certain proportion of these would be NFA firearms and hence much more prized over a standard AR15 from Academy...

"Report: Officers lose 243 Homeland Security guns";

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/18/ ... tml?hpt=T2

[Skydivesnake]

This story sites 55 murders traced back to these straw purchases in Houston. Seems high, but OK for sake of argument, I'll concede that point. And worth noting that this is not 55 murders this year, these crimes date back to 2007 or earlier.

Now how many total murders occured with firearms in Mexico in the same time frame? How many more of these guns were traced back to the US?

I don't have the numbers, but I'll bet a box of .380 ammo that the number of guns illegally purchased in the US and later used in murders in Mexico accounts of less than 2% of all murders committed in Mexico within the given time frame.

I believe there was over 5000 cartel-linked killings in 2008 - not sure about 2009.

I can tell you that from speaking with my FIL and others, the Mexican people have quite a simplistic attitude about the true origin of firearms, either through ignorance, or more likely thanks to purposeful Mexican/US Govt misdirection. The AR15/M16-shape rifle is seen as an American made and sourced gun, even though it is actually made under licence by numerous other countries, which are traded in the global arms markets. Just because it looks like an AR15 at Academy doesn't mean it's not an M16 built in Belgium for the Israelis, sold off to Ecuador and which later pops up in Mexico in the hands of a cartel thanks to El Salvadoran gun smugglers, for instance. I ask them to consider the huge numbers of US-made M16s supplied to the Mexican army, which goes missing thanks to their huge desertion rate, and which ends up with a cartel. Is that a US or Mexican problem ? And why don't the cartels just buy their M16s in bulk from the same place they procure their rocket-propelled grenades and move them in the normal route through South America, instead of buying the semi-auto versions in ones-and-twos from the US and have to sneak them over the border ? I normally just get a dumbfounded response, as the only thought process previously attached to the issue of firearms in Mexico is that '...they come from the US...'

[VoiceofReason]

I have a radical idea! Let’s try to gain control of our borders, going both ways.

How many people in government are asking themselves, “why didn’t I think of that”?

[wgoforth]

Crossed into Mex once and the little border shack had one guard standing asleep. In El Paso there is the "Border Jumper." A bus that leaves hourly for Juarez and will pick you up from various shops in Juarez and take you back whenever you want. I have ridden it many times. Although I guess they ~could~ I have never seen agents from either the US or Mex side board the bus and inspect. The driver announces that there is not to be any (and then he lists types of items) but everyone has their stuff in bags. There would be nothing to prevent one from going INTO or OUT of either country with any type of illegal items. Just stick it in a seat, under a seat, above a seat not yours, and IF any asks, no one knows who's it is. Border security is a farce. Worse on the Mex side, not great on our side. Not to mention our guards are relatively under armed and not even allowed to use those but in rare instances, If fired upon, they have to retreat rather than return fire.

[mymojo]

Guns in Mexico stories are just so much white noise to me anymore. The thing I keyed on in this post was :

One story is about local ordinances in Pennsylvania towns making it a crime to not report a lost or stolen gun within 24 hours.

I mean, I can honestly say I have guns in my safe that I haven't looked at in months. And since I dont inventory it daily, it seems like "I didnt know it was lost" would be a hard defense to disprove. Although as I become more politically aware, I am continually amazed at the bone headed reasoning of government agencies.