Do Texas Guns Fuel Drug Violence in Mexico?
Is an “iron river” of weapons flowing south from Texas to Mexico, as U.S. officials claim? Or is that nothing more than a fiction promulgated by a corrupt Mexican government that skews statistics to deflect responsibility?
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is reloaded with millions in Recovery Act dollars to continue its Operation Gunrunner, which it says helps stop Mexican cartels from procuring the weapons to fuel their murderous turf battles. The program is expanding operations along the border, including in McAllen and El Paso, and adding more agents to work with U.S. Embassy and ...
Comments (6)
treyhatt
Bravo, Julian! Very fair story.
One thing that also needs to be addressed in these stories are the military-grade weapons--the belt-fed machine guns, anti-aircraft pieces, rocket launchers, explosives, etc.--that cannot be legally purchased in the United States without permission from the ATF, a signature from your local sheriff, and an extensive background check.
I remember the iconic footage of tables full of confiscated small arms, anti-aircraft weapons, landmines and machine guns from last year, and the voice overs invariably mentioned straw purchasers and gun stores while the camera panned over heavy-duty military hardware. My snarky comment at the time was, "Gee whiz, no wonder Cabela's is fresh out of Stinger missiles every time I come in!"
How many of these crimes are committed with machine guns and rocket launchers that aren't available to the general public? Half? a third? Ninety percent? Where are they getting those arms? Are they buying them from corrupt police stations and leaky military supply chains? How many of the weapons used to kill innocent Mexicans and cartel gang-bangers come from the United States--via military aid packages? That's the story I'd be interested in.
Keep it up! You're doing God's work, TT!
think
It is not difficult to imagine that Texas with its easy gun access , and proximaty to the border as being the main sources of weapons shipped to Mexico.
It doesn't take much to buy for someone, sell or smuggle them across, considering how open and easy it is to cross into Mexico.
Mexico has had a history of tolerating (even getting bites of that money pie) drug, organized cartel operations, and corruption. What it hadn't had is a history of making efforts to combat it.
I think if Mexico fully funded education till 12th grade, created public universities, and improved judicial, court system,services, infrastructure, businsess practices it would be more developed as a nation and not have an endless supply of people going into arms dealing, drug cartels, and violence to defend their money sources.
Virtue
Lets do some basic math then revisit the above article.
Cost of a semi automatic rifle (definition of semi automatic is one bullet is fired every time the trigger is pulled) in the US Avg price $1000
Cost of a fully automatic rifle (definition of fully automatic is multiple bullets are fired each time you pull the trigger) in central America $250
The guns from central America will have no serial numbers (usually Chinese AK-47's) and will NOT be traceable.
So lets go back to the article....any doubts where the guns are coming from now?
james
The GAO (US Government Accountability Office) is supposed to be non-partisan but even the Department of Homeland Security believes that the GAO report was misleading. From DHS:
"Department of Homeland Security officials question the statistic involving the origination of weapons as currently presented by GOA. DHS officials believe that the 87 percent statistic is misleading as the reference should include the number of weapons that could not be traced (i.e., out of approximately 30,000 weapons seized in Mexico, approximately 4,000 could be traced and 87 percent of those - 3,480 - originated in the United States.)"
So between 2004 and 2008 3,480 guns came from the US and over 26,000 came from elsewhere but banning guns in the US would solve the violence problem in Mexico? Clearly there is an agenda here that has nothing to do with violence in Mexico.
Henry
I appreciate the intent of this article, but the execution is dishonest. The article seems to say that there is a debate over where drug war guns are coming from.
But this simply isn't true. There is no question at all that thousands of guns are coming from the US. The only debate is, are the majority of guns coming from the US?
I don't think that is the important question in this debate. The fact is documented that over 1,000 confiscated guns came from Texas alone.
Why does the article make such a big deal about what percent came from where? There clearly is an Iron River from the states, no disputing that, but there may be other iron rivers.
Seems like the narrative gets in the way of the facts.
kaydene jordan
Our gov. just help them.WHY DO PEOPLE IN GOV. NOT HAVE ANY COMMON SENCE.They always know what is good for all the people but never realy know how it realy hurts the people