Obama in Mexico "US gun laws are causing your violence"

[rajbcpa]

Really?

How about your Attorney General Eric Holder who intentionally passed out AW to criminals who then kill our border agents?

We should yank this guy's US passport and we should refuse his request to re-enter the USA.

[2ndsojourn]

I thought non-US citizens were prohibited from buying firearms, and if that's the case, then it's the enforcement of U.S. laws that's the problem. And the enforcement of laws is the responsibility of the executive branch of government. So that would be Obama and Biden that are the problem.

[wogpotter]

I thought non-US citizens were prohibited from buying firearms

That would be wrong. Legal resident aliens who are not citizens can buy firearms.

[cvc944]

So guns flow from the United States down to Mexico, and drugs flow from Mexico up into the United States and everyone knows it. But the drugs and the guns don't have legs or wings, so people must be moving these two items from country to country. On the surface it sounds like it might be a border issue, not an issue solved by more gun legislation.

[TXAZ]

One aspect the US Federal government conveniently doesn't mention is that the vast majority of "real" military grade weapons, ala Class III and speciality weapons, are coming from military stockpiles in countries SOUTH of Mexico.

If the US/ Mexico border were virtually sealed (such as was nearly the case during "Operation Intercept" back in the 70's) the US trained Zetas would still have no problem getting the weapons they desire to support cartel activities.

[kevinjmiller]

Das Grosse Luge at work again

But the most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly and with unflagging attention. It must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over. Here, as so often in this world, persistence is the first and most important requirement for success." AH

[tulsamal]

One aspect the US Federal government conveniently doesn't mention is that the vast majority of "real" military grade weapons, ala Class III and speciality weapons, are coming from military stockpiles in countries SOUTH of Mexico.

Yeah, every time I hear this crap, I think of the Mexican news conference where they laid out hundreds of seized weapons. And there were rocket launchers and belt fed machine guns and lots and lots of individual automatic military weapons. Like you could just walk into some US border gun store and buy this stuff. It seemed clear _to me_ that people who bring in illegal drugs bring in the heavy guns with them. They don't go to Texas to buy Century AK's.

Gregg

[Alabama Shooter]

I did not know guns could cause violence. How does that work?

[Pilot]

The vast majority of guns used by the Mexican drug cartels are surplus, military weapons coming up through South and Central America. They are fully automatic, actual military weapons (Class III like another poster said). They are not legally purchased, semi-auto rifle or handguns from the U.S.

This is pure disinformation, and propaganda being spewed by Obama, and Holder to justify disarming the U.S. law abiding populace. That is why they ran Fast and Furious, so they could point to guns obtained in the U.S. and ban them.

[SPEMack618]

Even when the Mexican Government knows the weapons are stolen military weapons, or bought as the case may be, they aren't lying when they say those guns come from America.

All those M-16s were made up here, and then either given or sold for pennies on the dollar to the Mexican government as part of our assistance in waging the "War on Drugs."

Still doesn't make it right, though.

[TimSr]

US pliticians are brillaint when it comes to creating disasters and then getting a naive public to blame whoever they point the finger at. Still no one is interested in Fast and Furious.

[carguychris]

My thoughts on the issue...

Are semi-auto weapons being purchased in the USA by Mexican drug gangs? YES. Does it need to stop? YES. However, if the administration is really serious about this problem, IMHO the solution is straightforward.

• Make it a serious federal crime for any person to knowingly sell transfer any firearm to another person for export to a foreign country in violation of the laws of that country.
• Make it a serious federal crime for any person to solicit the purchase or transfer of a firearm with the intention of exporting the firearm to a foreign country in violation of the laws of that country.
• Enforce these two laws in addition to the laws currently on the books prohibiting straw purchases.

I believe that the two laws I've proposed would pass both houses of Congress in a heartbeat if they are submitted on a stand-alone basis instead of as a piece of a more expansive gun control package.

I'm not holding my breath.

[Edited post to address transfers in addition to sales.]

[wogpotter]

Perhaps we should have VP Biden gather all the gang & cartel leaders in to one room & then pointedly explain how they don't need anything more than a double-barreled shotgun...............
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Yeah, I thought not.

[Tom Servo]

I did some digging on this when Hillary Clinton was claiming that 90/70% of all crime guns in Mexico came from the US a couple of years ago.

It turns out that between 70% and 90% of guns submitted to the ATF for tracing come from the US. In short, 70-90% of American guns can be verified as coming from America. Full stop.

If the Federales break up a drug house and find a bunch of Chinese SKS rifles, they don't submit those. They know they're not American. Russian RPG's? Not submitted. But if they find an old S&W Chief's Special, that gets submitted. The result? 100% of guns submitted to American authorities for tracing from that scene came from America.

Let's also not forget the ~250K M16's that are stolen from the Mexican army, and which have nothing to do with gun dealers north of the border.

[NWPilgrim]

Are we still supporting the Sinaola cartel via a high level "informant?" That was supposedly the channel used to transfer F&F guns to Mexico. We paid the cartel contact, they bought guns in US shops and "walked" them south of the border. For that matter has F&F definitively been terminated?

What word adequately describes the chutzpa, nerve, or arrogance of a President who authorized cross-border felonious gun exports for the craven purpose of manipulating public opinion, which results in hundreds of cartel murders, and then lectures on gun policy in that foreign country? It is beyond "nerve" or temerity or (choke) audacity. Approaching demonic. Any suggestions for an appropriate adjective or noun?

[csmsss]

Yes - let's blame firearms and not the thoroughly corrupted and lawless Mexican government and law enforcement agencies.

[Alabama Shooter]

I wonder if the violence is related to this?



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Drug_War

[Glenn E. Meyer]

If people did not buy drugs in the USA from illegal sources ...

Causality is not a strong point for the political classes.

[Gallstones]

Uhm, no. US drug laws are.

Is Obama that stupid or does he think the Mexican's are?
Neither status is complimentary.

[TimSr]

Make it a serious federal crime for any person to knowingly sell transfer any firearm to another person for export to a foreign country in violation of the laws of that country.

That is already illegal, and Eric Holder should be undicted for it under existing law.

[csmsss]

Actually, it is not exclusively U.S. consumption funding the Mexican narco trade. They are supplying the world with narcotics and marijuana. Even if every citizen in the U.S. gave up illegal drug use, the narco syndicates would still be just as powerful as they are today.

[Alabama Shooter]

Even if every citizen in the U.S. gave up illegal drug use, the narco syndicates would still be just as powerful as they are today.

What are you basing that idea upon?

[csmsss]

What are you basing that idea upon?

Oh, the fact that the narcotics industry would still be the largest industry in Mexico, with or without US customers. And would still own the Mexican government, law enforcement, and judiciary.

You are foolish indeed if you think that the U.S. market makes or breaks the Mexican narcotics cartels.

[Alabama Shooter]

I can't find any supporting numbers for that. The US is the number one destination by far for all drugs exported from Mexico and drugs imported to Mexico for the purpose of re-export.

World's largest consumer of
- Cocaine (shipped from Colombia through Mexico and the Caribbean),
- Colombian heroin
- Mexican heroin and marijuana
- major consumer of ecstasy and Mexican methamphetamine
- minor consumer of high-quality Southeast Asian heroin

(CIA Fact Book)

I see no evidence that if demand went to zero overnight that nothing would change. I think everything would change.

[David13]

Shooter
I think you are right. The only thing the "drug war" has done is raise the price of drugs to new, astronomical levels.
Thus instigating, funding, and fueling the 'cartel' phenomenon.
dc