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In Reality, Nearly Ninety Percent of Mexican Cartel Weapons DON'T Come From U.S.
Newsbusters ^ | 2 April, 2009 | Mike Sargent

Posted on 04/04/2009 8:28:40 AM PDT by marktwain

Apparently, America’s love of firearms has not rubbed off on our Mexican neighbors quite as much as the mainstream media led us to believe.

It has been widely reported that 90 percent of the weapons used in the Mexican drug cartel wars come from America. As it turns out, that statistic is simply incorrect. According to the figures obtained from ICE and ATF officials by Fox News, only about 17 percent of the weapons recovered from cartel-related crime scenes in Mexico actually originate in the United States.

Correspondent William LaJeunesse in an April 2 report (first aired at 12:27PM, then a shorter segment with an ATF agent at 2:55PM:

According to the Mexican Attorney General, in the last two years, they've recovered about thirty thousand, twenty-nine thousand weapons in Mexico. They have submitted about only one-third of those to the United States for tracing. And according to testimony that we have from the special agent in charge, in Phoenix, of the ATF, only about six thousand of those were successfully traced, and about ninety percent of those came from the U.S. But basically, the bottom line here is that according to our figures, which we got from them, eighty-three percent of the guns that have been recovered in Mexico at these crime scenes are not from the United States.

One might ask how the United States Secretary of State might have made such an error in her math.

LaJeunesse explains:

Well one reason is, it's basically the sampling issue. Number one, Mexico is finding guns at the crime scene which may have no markings at all. They may be clearly Chinese or Russian weapons, and so they are not submitting those to the United States for, quote, tracing. A U.S. weapon has a serial number on it, a manufacturer on it, it says where it is made. So clearly, Mexico is not going to give over weapons to the U.S. for tracing which clearly don't come from here. We had an ICE official, special agent in charge here in Phoenix tell us, and I'm quoting from him, “Not every weapon seized in Mexico has a serial number. Those are not submitted. Only we trace weapons with U.S. markings.

So to summarize, ninety percent of the traced weapons that Mexico decides to give back to us come from the United States – a sample which doesn’t include the vast majority of the weapons found. Seventy-three percent outside the mark is very selective truth-telling by the mainstream media.

Sun Tzu was never wiser than when he said “All warfare is based on deception.” So when Ben Tracy (CBS News), Andrea Mitchell (NBC News) and myriad hosts from CNN all claim that the Mexican drug war is the fault of lax gun laws in the United States, you know they're all reading from the same playbook.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 90; banglist; guns; mexico; mythof90percent
But will most people get the news about this lie? You would think something so obvious would discredit the sources of the lie at once, especially as I have not seen a single detraction of this "factoid" on any MSM outlet.
1 posted on 04/04/2009 8:28:41 AM PDT by marktwain
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To: marktwain

“...Mexico is not going to give over weapons to the U.S. for tracing which clearly don’t come from here...”

Especially not if it’s something the Federales can sell back to the cartels when no one is looking.


2 posted on 04/04/2009 8:31:05 AM PDT by PLMerite ("Unarmed, one can only flee from Evil. But Evil isn't overcome by fleeing from it." Jeff Cooper)
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To: marktwain; Squantos; Travis McGee

remember?


3 posted on 04/04/2009 8:34:06 AM PDT by wardaddy (America, Ship of Fools)
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To: marktwain

So 17% of the 30% come from the US?

Thats 5% of the original number. How many of those were fully automatic?

If the lies came from the ATF those people need to be fired.


4 posted on 04/04/2009 8:36:08 AM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: Joe Brower

Same subject Ping.


5 posted on 04/04/2009 8:45:42 AM PDT by philman_36 (Pride breakfasted with plenty, dined with poverty, and supped with infamy. Benjamin Franklin)
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To: driftdiver
One might ask how the United States Secretary of State might have made such an error in her math. The same way Hillary Clinton, wife of the impeached ex president.. lied about being under sniper fire in Bosnia
6 posted on 04/04/2009 8:45:52 AM PDT by JoanneSD (illegals represented without taxation.. Americans taxed without representation)
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To: marktwain
Common sense will tell you as drugs move north so do guns. I would bet many of them come from clintoons pal, Mark Rich.
7 posted on 04/04/2009 8:49:11 AM PDT by org.whodat (Auto unions bad: Machinists union good=Hypocrisy)
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

To: JoanneSD

. . . and the same woman who lied about FBI files stashed in a White House ante room?

That same lying scum? Our esteemed Sec of State in the truthful Obama administration.

Must be some mistake . . . .


9 posted on 04/04/2009 9:02:19 AM PDT by jakota (®)
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To: wardaddy

BATFAG agents know the real numbers....they are just as much a domestic enemy as the seditious polidiots whos asses they kiss IMO !

Doom on em .......hope they are jailed for their BS !


10 posted on 04/04/2009 9:47:14 AM PDT by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everyone you meet)
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To: marktwain
One might ask how the United States Secretary of State might have made such an error in her math

She didn't make an 'error'.

She lied.

11 posted on 04/04/2009 11:35:27 PM PDT by Lurker (The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)
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To: marktwain
Even if every firearm were coming from the U.S. it would still be a border security issue. This could be fixed by completing the border fence, rotating National Guard units to problem areas, deputizing land owners and other volunteers, and insisting that Mexican customs authorities monitor or inspect vehicles entering their country. Genuine border security would also reduce the flow of Mexican drugs and illegal aliens into the U.S.

The problem of assault rifles in Mexico is driven by the demand of its inhabitants, not by the manufacture of those weapons.

12 posted on 04/05/2009 2:30:58 AM PDT by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
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To: driftdiver
Just so we get our facts right let's do the numbers:

According to the Mexican Attorney General, in the last two years, they've recovered about thirty thousand, twenty-nine thousand weapons in Mexico. They have submitted about only one-third of those to the United States for tracing. And according to testimony that we have from the special agent in charge, in Phoenix, of the ATF, only about six thousand of those were successfully traced, and about ninety percent of those came from the U.S. But basically, the bottom line here is that according to our figures, which we got from them, eighty-three percent of the guns that have been recovered in Mexico at these crime scenes are not from the United States.

So using the higher number of 30,000 confiscated guns from Mexico, 6,000 are traceable to the United States. Keep in mind the figures cover two years of confiscation.

That is one out of five or 20%.

80% of the guns confiscated in Mexico don't come from the US.

From 1987 thru 2006 74,918,551 total guns (handguns, shotguns and rifles) were manufactured in the US. Given that up to that point we were still a free market, those guns are likely in circulation. Gun Production U.S.

6000 / 74 918 551 = 8.00869734 × 10-5 according to Google.

As a percentage of guns recovered from U.S. sources = .008% of guns manufactured in the US over a ten year period. Compared to the total gun ownership it is even smaller.

(Please check my math)

13 posted on 04/05/2009 3:18:23 AM PDT by 1010RD (First Do No Harm)
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To: Squantos

They’re just bureaucrats protecting turf and power.

The real question: Why would free people let other people manage their lives?


14 posted on 04/05/2009 3:19:56 AM PDT by 1010RD (First Do No Harm)
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To: org.whodat

Megaton of truth in that comment. How soon before some mexican mafia gang banger is RPGein a cop car or a rival’s house?


15 posted on 04/05/2009 7:46:43 AM PDT by junta (Not even respectable mainstream conservatives can save liberalism.)
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