Constitutional Law

More on border wars

A few days ago I posted to the FoxNews story, showing the falsity of claims that 85-90% of guns seized in Mexico come from the US (the 85-90% figure only includes those the Mexican government asks ATFE to trace, which logically are guns they already figure came from the US. If all guns seized in Mexico are counted, the percent tracing to the US is only 17%. Even that is misleading, since the public announcements describe them as traced to a US dealer, when any gun ever sold in the US will trace to a dealer (even if it was a completely legit sale years ago, and the gun was stolen from the buyer last month and sold by the thief).

But the refuted narrative lives on. Even in stories where you'd expect someone to ask "how are the cartels getting hand grenades and full autos in the US?"

From the Chicago Tribune:

"An estimated 90 percent of guns used in Mexican crimes were acquired in the U.S., and the illegal flow has begun to include more grenades and other military-style arms."

"According to U.S. law-enforcement officials, about 75 percent of guns that end up in Mexico are bought in the border states of Arizona, California and Texas. Officials say, however, that one significant pipeline feeding eastern Mexico begins in Illinois.
.......
Law-enforcement officials say the .38 caliber handgun had typically been the weapon of choice for drug traffickers. Now facing an increased Mexican military presence and an arms race among rival gangs, they are turning to weapons such as AK-47 rifles and even grenades."

From the Associated Press:

"The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has traced 95 percent of the weapons seized at the scenes of Mexican drug violence back to the U.S. The weapons are growing in power and include .50-caliber Barrett rifles and ammunition that can pierce the armor of Mexican soldiers and police."

The Economist adds some flights of fancy:

"Mexican police claim that since the ban lapsed in 2004, the cartels have become much more powerfully armed: of 30,000 guns they have seized since December 2006, 15,000 are assault weapons, nearly all bought at the 7,500 or so gun shops on the American side of the border."

At least Eric Holder must have read the FoxNews report, since he's getting evasive on the numbers (albeit avoiding the real figure of 17%). The AFP reports:

"More than 6,400 people have died since the start of last year in drug-related bloodshed in Mexico that experts say is fed by easy access to guns of which some 90 percent are supplied by the United States.

"It almost doesn't matter if it's 60 percent, 70 percent or 90 percent. The reality is that too many weapons are flowing from the United States and into Mexico," said US Attorney General Eric Holder."

Full post as published by Of Arms and the Law on April 04, 2009 (boomark / email).