US House Foreign Affairs Subcom Calls for Action on Guns

[Furyataurus]

US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee Calls for Action on Guns to Mexico


US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Western Hemisphere Subcommittee Holds Hearings on Violence in Mexico and the Merida Initiative


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- At a hearing today entitled “Guns, Drugs and Violence: The Merida Initiative and the Challenge in Mexico,” the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere – called for bold US action to curb the illegal flow of US firearms into Mexico. Chairman of the subcommitte Eliot Engel says that “the availability of military-style assault weapons has armed a dangerous criminal element in Mexico, and it has made the job of drug cartels easier.” 90% of firearms recovered in drug-related violence in Mexico come from the United States.

http://www.laht.com/article.asp?Arti...tegoryId=14091

[Furyataurus]

Why the frack would the drug cartels PAY for semi-auto rifles when they can get FULL AUTO rifles for the SAME price or CHEAPER!!!!!!

Has anyone noticed that the "media" keeps saying "firearms" and not "assault" rifles????? I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of the firearms "traced" back to the U.S. were HANDGUNS. The U.S. has a MUCH better selection of handguns than any other country IMO.

[M1P90]

This 90% figure is pure bull!!! They are makeing this up just to further the AWB agenda!!! The Mexican Gov. will not release the serial numbers of these guns so they can be tracked.
Besides... They are full autos!!! I'de look into the Mexican Military selling these to the cartels.

[Coyote]

Here's the relevant part:

Of course, the majority of these military-style assault weapons could be traced back to the United States, and many could be even further traced back to countries in Eastern Europe.

These may well be third-party weapons smuggled into the US illegally to begin with, from eastern European depots, and then taken across the border. But the article makes it sound like this is because of "lax US gun laws".

[djv38]

Here's the relevant part:

Of course, the majority of these military-style assault weapons could be traced back to the United States, and many could be even further traced back to countries in Eastern Europe.

These may well be third-party weapons smuggled into the US illegally to begin with, from eastern European depots, and then taken across the border. But the article makes it sound like this is because of "lax US gun laws".

+1

That makes it sound like illegal, smuggled AK's to me (which it most likely is).

[Coyote]

I see bored, poor, drunk Eastern European military conscripts-- bady trained, poorly treated, barely paid, with nothing to look forward to but the next bottle of vodka-- probably in Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, maybe even former Yugoslavia... getting a couple hundred bucks to look the other way while the Russian mafia loads a truck or two.

But that's just my theory, eh?

[chango]

This 90% figure is pure bull!!! They are makeing this up just to further the AWB agenda!!! The Mexican Gov. will not release the serial numbers of these guns so they can be tracked.
Besides... They are full autos!!! I'de look into the Mexican Military selling these to the cartels.

I don't think their 90% figure is wrong. After all, Colt and FN make M-16s in the US and sell them to just about all the Central and South American governments (where the cartels obviously get most of their guns). They just aren't telling the "whole truth" as usual.

[HK SD9 Tactical]

This 90% figure is pure bull!!! They are makeing this up just to further the AWB agenda!!! The Mexican Gov. will not release the serial numbers of these guns so they can be tracked.
Besides... They are full autos!!! I'de look into the Mexican Military selling these to the cartels.

I don't think their 90% figure is wrong. After all, Colt and FN make M-16s in the US and sell them to just about all the Central and South American governments (where the cartels obviously get most of their guns). They just aren't telling the "whole truth" as usual.

It is a numbers game. When they say 90 to 95% can be traced gack to the US, they mean 90 to 95% of the 'traceable' firearms that they confiscate. So if the Mexican government confiscates 100,000 firearms and only 300 are 'traceable' and of the 300 95% come from the US, they spout that '95% of the firearms were traced back to the US', hoping the people will believe that 95,000 firearms were sent to Mexico through the US. And chances are, some of these firearms were PROVIDED to the Mexican Government by the US Government in aid packages and the corrupt Mexican police and army sell them to the drug cartells.

While there are obviously some firearms that do make it into Mexico illegally, the figures are over exagerated to meet the need of grooming the US population for another AWB because we are such evil people that we should not have the ability to own firearms.

Statistics can mean ANYTHING you want them to mean.

[Toadie]

Legalize drugs in the US and all of these problems go away.

[HK SD9 Tactical]

Legalize drugs in the US and all of these problems go away.

Legalize drugs in the US and you open a whole new can of worms.

This is not the solution.