Counting Mexico's Guns

[bossy22]

There's no dispute that thousands of handguns, military style rifles and other firearms are purchased in the U.S. and end up in the hands of Mexican criminals each year. It's relatively easy to buy such guns legally in Texas and other border states and to smuggle them across.

But is it true as President Obama said, that "More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States?" No, it's not.

The figure represents only the percentage of crime guns that have been submitted by Mexican officials and traced by U.S. officials. We can find no hard data on the total number of guns actually "recovered in Mexico," but U.S. and Mexican officials both say that Mexico recovers more guns than it submits for tracing. Therefore, the percentage of guns "recovered" and traced to U.S. sources necessarily is less than 90 percent.

Furthermore, the 90 percent figure is based on a badly biased sample of all Mexican crime guns. Law enforcement officials say Mexico asks the U.S. to trace only those guns with serial numbers or other markings that indicate they are likely to have come though the U.S

read the rest at http://www.factcheck.org/politics/counting_mexicos_guns.html

[umccoyw]

1. its Mexico's fault they have the gun problem.......

Please correct me if im wrong but don't the Mexican authorities inspect vehicles and give the "OK" for people to enter into Mexico? Its their fault for missing those weapons and its their fault they dont stop the guns from coming in through their borders. Just like its OUR (United States) fault that we have drugs smuggled in.

[X_Digger]

4. Last time I went down there, I wasn't even stopped..

There was a long line on the other side, but southbound? A couple of guys taking a smoke break at one of the stations, not even looking at traffic. (This was either '04 or '05.)

[Caliman73]

9. It's more complicated than that

Plus assigning blame is only something politicians do to win elections. Money is a corrupting influence on both sides of the border. Our intense demand for illegal drugs fuels manufacturers and smugglers to supply us drugs. That makes lots of money for the cartels, who I am sure bribe government officials. The economic and political environment in Mexico creates the situation in which Mexican citizens choose to work for the cartels, including police and military personnel. We have similar problems with cops being on the take here, though WAY less due to the nice compensation packages and retirement in most police departments. The cartels seek to defend their power by purchasing weapons from whoever will sell to them. There are bound to be people in the States who willingly break the law by smuggling weapons that is illegal to do here and illegal in Mexico. Our border territories are so vast that it is impossible to stop everything from getting in. I mean how did 12 million undocumented immigrants get in to the US if our borders are so tight.

Mexico's and the US's relationship has been one marked by exploitation and corruption. Mexico's government is marked by deep corruption and a lack of substantive efforts to really protect its people. The best chance of doing so was with the election of Lopez-Obrador, but the monied interests in both the US and Mexico would not allow that. The point is that this is a very much mutual problem with enough blame to go around. What we need to figure out is how to deal with the problems. How do we neuter the cartels? Mexico needs a massive look into political corruption and systemic problems. The US needs to stop exploiting Mexico's instability for our own gain. Who did what to whom is not as relevant as what needs to be done to remove the motivation for the drug dealing, the weapons dealing, and the murder. We need to stop it from being so lucrative.

[umccoyw]

11. Personally.........

I think the U.S. needs to worry about the U.S. now. we need to stop supporting the world(with aid) and use that money to pay off our national debt and improve our own country before we worry about anyone else. And in Regards to Mexico you said it was very corrupt so what are we supposed to do then? if they are corrupt (a lot of them) and we try to work with Mexican Government and we come up with a plan it will just get back to the cartels anyways and they will adjust their plans accordingly

[Caliman73]

12. Part of worrying about the US is worrying about how we impact other countries.

It does not just entail considering our own economic prosperity without regard to how that impacts other countries. The US has a history of destabilizing countries in Latin America, including Mexico, for the purpose of obtaining favorable economic opportunities. Much of the current problem with the cartels can be resolved by coming up with a comprehensive way of decriminalizing or legalizing drugs and treating their abuse as a public health issue rather than a crime issue. That would effectively take the profit motive away from drug smuggling and manufacturing coming from Latin America. Gone is the time where the United States can retreat into itself and not consider how its actions impact the rest of the world.

[sam sarrha]

2. the worry bout guns is piece of shit cartel owned government needs over throw'n

[Duckhunter935]

3. yes those

Anti-airccraft weapons, Grenages and RPGs are all from the U.S. I think a lot come from south america or from the Mexican military or corrupt police.

[ManiacJoe]

5. Check your facts.

The USA does not make RPGs; they are Russian. The military grade weapons that are USA in origin are mostly coming from the sales to the Mexican government.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

7. I think that's what he said.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

6. In all honesty this should be posted in General Discussion, given it's multiple points of interest.

[bossy22]

8. i thought about it

but i thought that it would probably end up in here again

[slackmaster]

10. There would be no point in submtting an obviously non-US gun to the US for tracing

Pretty obvious.