Calderon blasts Arizona immigration law, seeks assault weapons ban

[alp227]

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN) -- Mexican President Felipe Calderon addressed two of America's most contentious political issues during a speech to the U.S. Congress Thursday, asking for a return of the assault weapons ban and blasting Arizona's controversial new immigration law as a "terrible" endorsement of racial profiling.

Calderon also reminded Americans of their role in the recent eruption of drug-fueled violence along the U.S.-Mexican border, noting the high demand for illegal drugs in the United States. At the same time, he highlighted a series of economic reforms undertaken by his administration, arguing that they are helping to position Mexico for a period of greater growth and social stability.

"Mexico and the United States are stronger together than they are apart," he told a joint meeting of Congress. "Our economic ties have made both economies stronger. ... A stronger Mexico means a stronger United States."

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/05/20/mexico.president.congress/index.html?eref=rss_us&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_us+%28RSS%3A+U.S.%29

[slackmaster]

1. The expired "assault weapons" ban had no effect on the availability of "assault weapons"

It probably increased the popularity of semiautomatic knockoffs of military pattern firearms.

Before the ban there were a handful of companies in the USA making AR-15 rifle variants. Now there are dozens.

The firearms that are being used by Mexican criminal gangs have mostly been diverted from the Mexican military, and smuggled in from Central America. Many of them are surely of US origin, but most were never sold at Big 5 Sporting Goods.

[proteus_lives]

2. +1

[X_Digger]

3. Agreed.. see this chart..

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/jerrylee/research/aw_final2004.pdf

[old mark]

4. The first ban was nothing but political gamesmanship - to renew that POS

would be quite cynical and cost a lot of votes now that Democratic politicians are starting to realize WE OWN GUNS TOO!!!

mark

[madrchsod]

5. ak 47`s...

a lot cheaper than american m models

[onpatrol98]

6. Calderon

I know its probably wrong of me to think this guy has some nerve to blast any country about its immigration policies. As horrible as America's policies are...they're better than Mexico's.

[ieoeja]

7. Compromise: ban *all* firearm sales within 100 miles of borders.

Do it in the name of securing our borders.

Now if the "secure our borders" crowd was really serious, we could ban all non-border security *persons* within 100 miles of the borders except via secure lanes for traveling only.

[Lagomorph]

10. The idea is...

...to secure the border, not create a no man's land. One hundred miles....give me a break.

[ieoeja]

12. A no man's land is the tried and true method for securing borders. "DMZ" ring a bell?

Of course, a DMZ is typically only a few miles wide. So we could go with only 5 or 10 miles if you would like. But a 100 miles would go a lot further towards securing that border.

[timo]

17. dumbest idea ever

thats the dumbest shit ever, do you realize how many people that would displace? how many jobs and resources that would eliminate??

[ieoeja]

19. If securing our borders is as important as they say ...

... a DMZ is the time-honored method of securing highly volatile borders.

So pick your poison: create a DMZ or admit that border security isn't serious enough to warrant drastic measures.

[timo]

20. its very important

your idea is just dumb as shit, you can have a secure border WITHOUT having to resort to a 100 mile wide dmz, jeez, thank the saints n stars your not in charge of jack shit

[Rebubula]

8. Considering....

...that many reports detail the horrific existence (Rape, torture, robbery, murder) of Central Americans coming through Mexico on their way to the US - COMBINED with the insane drug war murders in Mexico (MaryJane is illegal in Mexico and plenty of Mexicans smoke it - so save the fucking 'THE US DRUG WAR CAUSED THIS' shit) - this guy has some balls coming here and saying that.

Mexico's immigration policy is more restrictive than ours - it is simply that no one wants to fucking live in Mexico (except the rich, of course).

[slackmaster]

9. He's like Chicago's Mayor Daley except with a whole country to make sorry excuses for

In order to save his own political skin.

[Lagomorph]

11. Calderon was on Wolf Blitzer...

...and pretty much said all that. They deport illegals, won't let them work without legal paperwork and profile anyone they find suspicious.

[Flaneur]

15. The US market for illicit drugs dwarfs Mexico's.

And, uh, about 110 million people live in Mexico, the vast majority with no intention of leaving.

[fascisthunter]

13. but selling "assault weapons" is the American Way

doesn't Calderon feel safer? What's his deal....?

[slackmaster]

14. Neither the enactment of the ban nor its expiration had any material effect on availability...

...of any functional category of firearm.

It's illogical for Calderon to attempt to attribute any recent change in US gun control laws with crime rates in his country.

[Socal31]

16. The last thing Obama needs to do is touch guns.

He is much smarter than that anyway. Sorry Calderon.

[Ter]

18. I think this is why the Founding Fathers said you could only run for president...

...if you were born in the USA. A man ineligible to run for president via the Constitution is trying to dictate US law. Wow.