Calderon blames U.S. guns for violence

Washington Times ^ | May 21, 2010 | Kara Rowland

[neverdem]

Mexican President Felipe Calderon called on Congress on Thursday to reinstate a federal ban on assault weapons that he said are ending up in the hands of violent drug cartels south of the border, using a highly contentious estimate of U.S. guns seized in Mexico when addressing Capitol Hill lawmakers.

Mr. Calderone said he respects the Second Amendment, but argued that violence south of the border spiked in 2004 after the expiration of a U.S. ban on semiautomatic weapons. Echoing statements made by President Obama Wednesday, Mr...

--snip--

"With all due respect, if you do not regulate the sale of these weapons in the right way, nothing guarantees that criminals here in the United States with access to the same power of weapons will not decide to challenge American authorities and civilians," he said.

Mr. Calderon told a joint session of Congress that of the 75,000 guns seized by Mexican authorities over the last three years, 80 percent are traced to the U.S.

That assertion is suspect as gun-rights advocates and several media outlets have debunked similar figures in the past. Indeed, Mr. Calderon's comments drew a harsh rebuke from the National Rifle Association on Thursday.

"The answer to Mexico's drug and violence problem does not lie in dismantling the Second Amendment; it lies in making sure that the Mexican government takes care of problems on their side of the border," NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said. "With all due respect to the president, he's either intentionally using false data, or he's unknowingly using bad numbers."

Mr. Arulanandam pointed to congressional testimony given in March 2009 by an official with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who said there is no factual basis for the claim that as many as 90 percent of the weapons come from the U.S...

[Florida native]

Shame on all those guns for walking across the border and killing all those poor little Mexicans.

[Man50D]

Mr. Calderon told a joint session of Congress that of the 75,000 guns seized by Mexican authorities over the last three years, 80 percent are traced to the U.S.

From the September 2009 issue of the NRA's Freedom Magazine Editor Mark Chesnut, excerpts:

For example one of the biggest media lies of the past year is the "fact" that 87% of guns confiscated from Mexican drug runners comes from the United States.

A new report Congress traces over 90% of guns recovered in Mexican drug crimes in the last three years back across the border, where legal and illegal American dealers flout federal laws rife with loopholes. With regard to the 87% or "over 90%" statistic , the figures in the report, which the author and other media have bothered to read, make clear the BATFE only traces a small fraction of the guns seized in Mexico. Further those firearms traced a selected because they are the guns most likely to have come from the United States. I order to do their job correctly the media would actually have to report something like :"The report says 87% of the small fraction of confiscated guns traced are selected for tracing because they likely came from the U.S>, originated in the U.S."

[Zeppo]

Mr. Calderone said he respects the Second Amendment, but...

Mr. Calderone is another one of those but-heads. They mouth the lie without breaking a sweat, and then continue on to contradict their original statement, proving that it was an intentional lie all along...

[Tzimisce]

...well if the border wasn’t wide open, maybe the guns wouldn’t get down there.

[bigbob]

I think we now understand why Mexico is such a freaking mess, and why people seem ready to do almost anything to get out of there.

Calderon, clean up your own country before coming here criticizing ours. The USA is the best friend you ever had, you jackass.

[Redbob]

Can it really be that Calderon is that stupid???

Or does he think we are?

[rlmorel]

LOL, I know it isn't the one you are looking for, but it was at hand...:)

[garyhope]

Yep, it’s not all those darned Mexicans. Must be the Amish “youts” sneaking over the border to Mexico and raising cain.

I guess that gun ban in Mexico is not working out.

[rlmorel]

I think this is the one you want...

[Moose Burger]

They are.

Calderón compares himself to Obama: “...comentaba qué es lo que exactamente tenemos el presidente Barack Obama y un servidor en común...”

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/681779.html

He rambles about both being the same age, having gone to the same college, marrying with lawyers, being left handed...

[eyedigress]

Grenade launchers, AK-47’s, and attack helo’s must come off of walmart’s shelves immediamente!

[Stegall Tx]

Does it strike anyone as ironic that the Mexican President is complaining that the border is too tight when it comes to people moving north, but too porous when it comes to guns moving south?

[rockinqsranch]

THAT’s IT! Thanks for posting. I appreciate it. The picture, and the caption says it all about Calderone’s revived, tired old accusation that has been disproved by many articles going back several years now.

I wish I had the links to those articles, but I don’t. The issue has been on the back burner for a long time only now being brought up again to the front by Calderone and his Commie friends in our Congress.

Seems that between the armament stolen by deserting Mexican Army soldiers joining the Drug Cartels, and Arms dealers/runners from various South American States, there’s no end to the supply of weapons, and ammunition from sources around the World.

There’s much more to say on the matter, but I’ll drop it here. Thanks again.

[rlmorel]

Glad I could help. That is just how I feel as well.

[3boysdad]

He can come and get mine first.

[libertyhoundusnr]

Didn’t the ATF try this crap awhile back and it turned out that a very low percentage of firearms came directly from the US? If I remember the full auto and demolition materials came directly from the Mexican Army either stolen, surrendered or traded for drugs? With the bulk of the Mexican police and military on the take, where do you go from here? Lets juat send some Chicago politicians down and show them how to do it right....

[One Name]

You and I both must have missed that aisle at the last gun show.

The supposition is that the predominant number of weapons being purchased here are diverting to criminals on both sides of the border.

Having some exposure to criminals through my line of work I would guesstimate that at least 95% of weapons purchased through US retailers or FFLs remain in the hands of lawful citizens, ( accounting for theft, etc). I have no idea of what kind of diversions of military, police or 3rd world arms are affecting Mexico.

I’ll take those odds here in the US.

[FredZarguna]

[Greysard]

Where do I go to get a full auto machine gun and grenades? What gun store is that? I bet most of their guns came from the Mexican or Venezuelan Army

I understand that Far Cry 2 is not a good authority on weapon smuggling, but I think Jackal Tape 03 is insightful:

---

"Where do you get the weapons?"

It's a romantic notion that they all came out of the Soviet Union after the collapse, that was a win fall back in '89, maybe from '91...but that's all over. I move weapons, I profit from circulation; you get a ceasefire in Liberia, both sides disarmed, you think they slide two thousand tons of guns? No. They sell them to me. I resell them where ever the next war is starting.

"Those are Soviet Guns from 1999?"

Hm...well that's about half. The rest mostly come from old European armies. After they abandon their colonies in the '60s and '70s, you know, French guns, Dutch, Belgian...

"So some of these guns are very old? They have been sold, bought, and sold repeatedly?"

*laughs* They aren't bio-degradable. Only the dead are bio-degradable.

---

So there is probably lots of weapons on the black market.

[UnwashedPeasant]

So, I take it he supports building the Wall.