By Nick Dial
Recently you may have heard of the botched attempt of the federal government to “track” weapons being purchased in the United States and being moved across the Mexican border. The ATF knowingly allowed these weapons to be transported across national lines, but when agent Brian Terry was killed by one of these weapons by Drug Cartel members, the debate over U.S. weapons and their impact on Mexico began all over again. You may have heard recent claims by gun control activists and politicians in support of such actions, but the claims they continue to parrot are not just factually false; they’re intellectually dishonest. To clear some of the falsehoods propagated by such groups of people, let’s take a look at the following claims.
Myth: “The violence in Mexico started when the assault weapons ban expired”-Mexican President Felipe Calderón
Fact: This statement is not only false; it’s grossly dishonest and shameless demagoguery. In no way can such a statement be supported. The Drug Wars in Mexico have a long history; cartel violence is nothing new. In fact, you may remember the 2000 movie “Traffic” starring Michael Douglas and Benicio Del Toro. This movie tackles the very issues of the increasing cartel influence and violence on our borders and in Mexico a full four years before the assault weapons ban expired. For Calderón to suggest such a thing is a blatant denial of Mexico’s own local criminal history and corruption. It should be also pointed out that the assault weapons ban had nothing to do with “assault weapons.” Often people are under the impression that weapons such as AK-47’s and AR-15’s are not legal under such a ban. This was made evident when in a 2004 debate between George Bush Jr. and John Kerry, Kerry asserted the ban needed to be renewed in order to remove and prevent weapons such as AK-47’s to be available on the streets. In reality, these firearms have always been available. The assault weapons ban limited items such as high capacity magazines, limiting the amount of rounds to 10. Collapsible stocks or mounted bayonets. If an AR-15 had a collapsible stock, under the bill, it was an “assault weapon”. The bill itself never removed the weapons. Instead, it placed arbitrary guidelines as to what was and was not considered an “assault weapon. Calderón’s statement is inflammatory, carless, and provides a perfect example of pulpit preaching for the sake of political expediency.
Myth: 90% of weapons used in Mexico to commit crime are traced to the U.S.
Fact: This statement serves as a perfect example of how to take a small bit of truth, and spin it to push an ideological agenda. Hillary Clinton, among many others, parrot this statement many times over, but do the facts support this statement? No. What one must understand is the use of the word “traced.” In 1968 the Gun Control Act was passed, and required all weapons manufactured and imported in the United States require a serial number. This serial number allows the weapon to be traced. Because we have such a requirement, it should come as no surprise that 90% of weapons “traceable” come from the U.S. The other masses of weapons have no such ability to be traced and therefore are not in the same demographic. What we have here is a case of political spin, where one takes a small truth and applies it in a general statement. For example, if you took 100 guns, and only 30 of them had serial numbers, then only those could be traced. Of those 30 guns, if 27 of them have U.S. serial numbers. This means that 90% of these weapons were traced back to the U.S. The other 70 weapons have been omitted from the equation and have left us with a statistic that gets thrown around carelessly.
“A large percentage of the guns recovered in Mexico do not get sent back to the U.S. for tracing, because it is obvious from their markings that they do not come from the U.S.” Not every weapon seized in Mexico has a serial number on it that would make it traceable, and the U.S. effort to trace weapons really only extends to weapons that have been in the U.S. market,” Matt Allen, special agent of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement” (Lott, 2009).
In 2007-2009, the Mexican Government reported the seizing of 29,000 guns. Of those, only 68% of the guns were not traceable. As Lott points out, “In other words, 68 percent of the guns that were recovered were never submitted for tracing. And when you weed out the roughly 6,000 guns that could not be traced from the remaining 32 percent, it means 83 percent of the guns found at crime scenes in Mexico could not be traced to the U.S.” (Lott, 2009).
Another point that should be made is why Drug Cartels would, with access to Central and South American black markets, two open coastlines, and the ability move mass amounts of narcotics across land and sea resort to getting the majority of their weapons from high priced retailers in the U.S.? The answer is they wouldn’t and they don’t. No weapons manufactured or imported after 1986 in the U.S. can be an automatic, unless there is a federal class 3 license involved. The majority of weapons used by drug cartels are of military grade, including fully automatic assault rifles, grenades, and RPG’s (rocket propelled grenade launchers). The idea that an individual is walking into a U.S. gun store, and walking out with such hardware is simply false. So where do these weapons come from? According to Tim Johnson of the McClatchy Washington Bureau, many of these weapons come from Central American military weapons arsenals.
“Crime groups in cahoots with venal army officers are looting military arsenals in Central America, giving them powerful weapons that allow them to outgun police and challenge the region’s regular armies. The weapons run the gamut from assault rifles to anti-tank missiles, some of which the U.S. supplied during regional conflicts more than two decades ago. The slippage from military armories occurs regularly. The feared Mexican organized crime group known as Los Zetas has stolen weapons from military depots in Guatemala three times in recent years, Guatemalan Deputy Security Minister Mario Castaneda told an anti-narcotics conference in early April in Cancun, Mexico. In February, U.S. prosecutors unsealed a five-count indictment against a retired army captain from El Salvador for allegedly selling or offering C-4 plastic explosives, assault rifles, grenades and blasting caps to undercover agents.” (Johnson, 2011).
Not only does Central America play a massive arms role in weapons supply, but so does the black market from China, South Korea, former Soviet blocs, and Africa. All of which can bring boatloads into Cartel controlled coast lines.
The idea that the U.S. supplies Mexico’s drug war with the majority of weapons, and therefore is to blame for the violence associated with it is not only misleading, it is quite simply false. While many politicians and gun control groups love to spread these myths as if they’re stating fact, it is important that the people of the United States arm themselves with knowledge of the truth.
References
Johnson, T. (2011, April 21). Drug gangs help themselves to Central American military arsenals. Retrieved 2011 2, July, from McClatchy Washington Bureau: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/04/21/v-print/112616/drug-gangs-help-themselves-to.html
Lott, W. L. (2009, April 2). The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S. Retrieved July 2, 2011, from Foxnews.com: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/02/myth-percent-small-fraction-guns-mexico-come/
