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U.S. freedoms not to blame for Mexico's drug war
CNN ^ | March 26, 2009 | Wayne LaPierre

Posted on 03/26/2009 10:28:23 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe

Here's a summary for the time- or attention-challenged: Never surrender freedom for laws that can't affect criminals; they disobey laws for a living.

Nobody is surprised that Attorney General Eric Holder wants to make good on his promise to ban guns. We just didn't know whose tragedy he'd seize to advance his agenda.

Now we do. It's the drug-driven death and violence in Mexico at the hands of ruthless criminal cartels.

Barely a month on the job, Holder cited the Mexican cartel killings as the excuse to resurrect the Clinton gun ban.

Though a new face to some, Holder is a rabid Second Amendment foe from the Clinton administration who helped orchestrate the 1994 Clinton gun ban.

America has made this mistake already. So let's learn the lies that led to their gun ban. ....

The gun-ban lobby and national media lied with lockstep conformity by playing endless footage of fully automatic machine gun fire. They fooled the American people and the U.S. Congress into thinking they were banning "high-powered," "rapid-fire," "battlefield-bred" guns designed to "spray fire from the hip."

None of that was true. ....

Congress was so doubtful about the ban's effectiveness, they limited it to a 10-year experiment. So it expired in 2004, and for good reason. It was useless all along.

As the study mandated by that Congress found, "The banned weapons and magazines were never used in more than a modest fraction of all gun murders" in the first place. The ban had absolutely no effect on gun crime. ....

Nobody can substantiate claims that U.S. guns cross the border "by the thousands" or "account for 95% of weapons used by Mexican drug gangs." Because it's not true.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial
KEYWORDS: 2ndamendment; aliens; allourfault; banglist; guns; holder; mexico; nra
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1 posted on 03/26/2009 10:28:24 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
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To: Tailgunner Joe
Photobucket

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing Hillary's panties.


2 posted on 03/26/2009 10:32:56 PM PDT by Eric Blair 2084 (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms shouldn't be a federal agency...it should be a convenience store.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
I think we are to blame. Especially me. While enjoying my constitutional rights as an American, I haven't given enough thought to doing everything I can to help Mexico build a just civil society, to correct systemic and inherent corruption in Mexico's respective local, state and federal establishments. I haven't done enough to weed out corruption, help stop the flow of illegal weapons shipments, find alternative employment avenues for Mexican drug pushers, insure a fair and impartial Mexican judiciary, etc. I'm sorry. I feel as though I've let everyone down.
3 posted on 03/26/2009 10:34:02 PM PDT by americanophile
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Good one.


4 posted on 03/26/2009 10:34:11 PM PDT by Eagles6 ( Typical White Guy: Christian, Constitutionalist, Heterosexual, Redneck. (Let them eat arugula!))
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To: americanophile

If Mexico wants to keep evil US guns out, perhaps they should build a wall....


5 posted on 03/26/2009 10:41:20 PM PDT by Hawk1976 (It is better to die in battle than it is to live as a slave.)
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To: Hawk1976
If Mexico wants to keep evil US guns out, perhaps they should build a wall....

Hey.. that's quite an idea, maybe we could help them.

:)

6 posted on 03/26/2009 10:44:45 PM PDT by Irish Eyes
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To: Eric Blair 2084

Don’t forget, yesterday while in Mexico representing our country in the disguise of Secretary of State, Hillary G-Damn Clinton (the smartest woman in the world) told people that we (the citizens of these United States of America) were totally to blame for the violence in their country...

Now, don’t get me wrong...I am not being sarcastic or condesending...Maybe a little...But if you are an appointed official in our government and you go to a foriegn country to tell a little white lie, doesn’t that seem a little more like a spoiled child, or better yet, it’s like your pulling a “Dixie Chick” away from people who might have a slight problem with you blaming the wrong people, much less it being totally factual in content???

But as usual, no one will take her, or this administration to task for spewing forth a bunch of bull-s$*t to a foriegn audience...

I don’t believe I remember the press (media), or the public gong ape doo-doo or missing an opportunity to slam a Republican administration official over the slightest slip or faux paux on anything they said here or abroad??? However few times that may have happened, and not a statement that was as grossly inaccurate and delivered to deliberately support actions that will not effect ANY change to better the situation???

But then again we are talking about liberals, hell bent on taking this country to the next lower level...Full speed ahead...

I always offer a solution, dispite the negativity and criticality of a comment against government stupidity...

The solution being one that should hack off both sides of the aisle, dispite my conservative leanings...

I propose that if we (conservatives) do not remember, and carry this outrage at how, with little more than 60+ days in office, this administrations (and its mindless minions in the legislative branch of government) liberal/socialist conduct and activities to the next election THIS November (in the local elections) and carry still to the next elections in November 2010, and reverse this trend, I have no use for any of it anymore...

We can certainly try to “outreach” to non-traditional Republican voters in non-traditional areas of our communities all we want, but at the same time we had better keep our fingers on the pulse of the base, or the fall of the conservative movement will take yet another nosedive in the next few election cycles...

Well, enough of the midnight rantings of someone who probably doesn’t know or understand the finessing portions of how politics works nowadays...


7 posted on 03/26/2009 11:19:51 PM PDT by stevie_d_64
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To: stevie_d_64

Opps, even I make mistakes and admit them...

I meant to say “totally (false) in content”.

Geesh, I need to unplug...


8 posted on 03/26/2009 11:22:18 PM PDT by stevie_d_64
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To: stevie_d_64
yesterday while in Mexico representing our country in the disguise of Secretary of State, Hillary G-Damn Clinton (the smartest woman in the world) told people that we (the citizens of these United States of America) were totally to blame for the violence in their country...

This is the height of hypocrisy (or in Hillary's case, hippo-cracy).

Hillary's own husband used cocaine; the current president, whom Hillary serves under, has used illegal drugs--and even joked about it.

Where do they think their drugs came from?

If anyone should "share the blame" for drug violence, it is them.

9 posted on 03/26/2009 11:28:39 PM PDT by Jess Kitting
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To: Tailgunner Joe
Never surrender freedom for laws that can't affect criminals; they disobey laws for a living.

Too long to be a tagline but oh, so true.

10 posted on 03/26/2009 11:30:10 PM PDT by Tamar1973 (Riding the Korean Wave, one Bae Yong Joon drama at a time!)
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To: americanophile

And you don’t even need a /sarc tag for that. :)


11 posted on 03/27/2009 12:17:09 AM PDT by wastedyears (April 21st, 2009 - International Iron Maiden Day)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
"Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade,"
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Roger Cassidy Clinton, Jr.

Drug Possession: Cocaine 1984
Conspiracy to distribute cocaine 1985,
Drug Dealing cocaine 1985,
pled guilty,
Pardoned by half-brother Bill Clinton 2001

12 posted on 03/27/2009 12:19:55 AM PDT by Daaave ("Where it all ends I can't fathom my friends")
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To: Irish Eyes

Ditto.

:>)


13 posted on 03/27/2009 1:20:16 AM PDT by Cindy
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Also from:
http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-blaming-american-gun-owners-for-mexico-crisis

“Congressman Connie Mack (R-Fla.), however, challenged Rand’s claim that 90% of guns seized from the cartels are from the United States. Rand cited the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) for her claim. But the BATFE has only stated that 90% of the guns _traced_ are from America. BATFE only traces a fraction of the guns seized; those firearms are not selected randomly, but are likely selected because they are the guns most likely to have come from the U.S. Trace data reveals nothing about the large number of guns that are not traced.”

[So if there are, say, 100 guns seized and the BATFE determines that 10 are ‘likely to have come from the US’ and do a trace on those 10 and find 9 of them are from the US. Then only 9% of the guns _seized_ were from the US, while 90% of the guns _traced_ were from the US.]

“Feinstein even tried to elicit support for that number from a representative from the BATFE. But when he responded that the number was much lower, most likely in the hundreds, Senator Feinstein was clearly unhappy that he would not endorse her anti-gun soundbite.”

and...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-arms-race15-2009mar15,0,229992.story

“Traffickers have escalated their arms race, acquiring military-grade weapons, including hand grenades, grenade launchers, armor-piercing munitions and antitank rockets with firepower far beyond the assault rifles and pistols that have dominated their arsenals.

Most of these weapons are being smuggled from Central American countries or by sea, eluding U.S. and Mexican monitors who are focused on the smuggling of semiauto- matic and conventional weapons purchased from dealers in the U.S.”


14 posted on 03/27/2009 1:26:12 AM PDT by Kent C
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To: Tailgunner Joe

The U.S.’s culpability in the Mexican drug wars lies with the FAILURE of this ADministration and its PREDECESSOR to close our border with Mexico.

If we didm the market for drugs in America would be greatly reduced.

BUT,since the Mexican government ALSO opposed a closed border with the U.S., they are ALSO to blame for the mess.


15 posted on 03/27/2009 3:11:33 AM PDT by ZULU (Obamanation of Desolation is President. Non nobis, non nobis Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
Drug Trafficing Through Central America (Roads used and key points of Interest)

"......the Merida Initiative, a U.S. anti-drug aid program that will put some $300 million into Mexico and about $100 million into Central America over the next year, could be perceived as a meaningful threat to drug-trafficking operations. If Central American governments choose to step up counternarcotics operations, either at the request of the United States or in order to qualify for more Merida money, they risk disrupting existing smuggling operations to the extent that cartels begin to retaliate."

"Also, even though Mexican cartels may be reluctant to divert major resources from the more important war at home, it is important to recognize that a large-scale reassignment of cartel operatives or resources from Mexico to Central America might not be necessary to have a significant impact on the security situation in any given Central American country. Given the rampant corruption and relatively poor protective security programs in place for political leaders in the region, very few cartel operatives or resources would actually be needed if a Mexican drug-trafficking organization chose to, for example, conduct an assassination campaign against high-ranking government officials.

"Governments are not the only potential threat to drug traffickers in Central America. The increases in land-based drug trafficking in the region could trigger intensified competition over trafficking routes. Such turf battles could occur either among the Mexican cartels or between the Mexicans and local criminal organizations, which might try to muscle their way into the lucrative smuggling routes or attempt to grab a larger percentage of the profits.

"If the example of Mexico is any guide, the drug-related violence that could be unleashed in Central America would easily overwhelm the capabilities of the region’s governments. Last year, STRATFOR considered the possibility of Mexico becoming a failed state. But Mexico is a far stronger and richer country than its fragile southern neighbors, who simply do not have the resources to deal with the cartels on their own.

Excerpt

16 posted on 03/27/2009 8:08:41 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
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To: Kent C

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20090326_central_america_emerging_role_drug_trade

Excerpt above as much longer report.

May be of interest.


17 posted on 03/27/2009 8:16:29 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
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To: ZULU
According to a December 2008 report from the U.S. National Drug Intelligence Center, less than 1 percent of the estimated 600 to 700 tons of cocaine that departed South America for the United States in 2007 transited Central America. The rest, for the most part, passed through the Caribbean Sea or Pacific Ocean en route to Mexico. Since then, land-based shipment of cocaine through Central America appears to have ballooned. Earlier this month, U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala Stephen McFarland estimated in an interview with a Guatemalan newspaper that cocaine now passes through that country at a rate of approximately 300 to 400 tons per year.

A combination of poorly maintained highways, frequent border crossings, volatile security conditions and unpredictable local criminal organizations apparently presented such great logistical challenges that traffickers opted to send the majority of their shipments through well-established maritime and airborne platforms-- bulk cocaine on everything from small propeller aircraft and Gulfstream jets to self-propelled semisubmersible vessels, fishing trawlers and cargo ships.

18 posted on 03/27/2009 8:24:44 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
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To: americanophile

“I think we are to blame. Especially me. While enjoying my constitutional rights as an American, I haven’t given enough thought to doing everything I can to help Mexico build a just civil society, to correct systemic and inherent corruption in Mexico’s respective local, state and federal establishments. I haven’t done enough to weed out corruption, help stop the flow of illegal weapons shipments, find alternative employment avenues for Mexican drug pushers, insure a fair and impartial Mexican judiciary, etc. I’m sorry. I feel as though I’ve let everyone down. “

Great post. Do you know what Mexico, it’s migrants and it’s demands and the liberals in this country remind me of?
My own family. A bunch of whiners, who blame everyone else no matter what stupid stunt they pulled. Eventually, if this country is to survive, it will have to do what I had to do....tell them all to go find another patsy.


19 posted on 03/27/2009 8:28:32 AM PDT by AuntB (The right to vote in America: Blacks 1870; Women 1920; Native Americans 1925; Foreigners 2008)
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To: Daaave

“”Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade,””

Roger Clinton. Yes, thanks for that reminder. No one I know uses cocaine.


20 posted on 03/27/2009 8:32:12 AM PDT by AuntB (The right to vote in America: Blacks 1870; Women 1920; Native Americans 1925; Foreigners 2008)
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