U.S. and Mexico struggle to stop flow of weapons across border

[onehandle]

Source: New York Times

In the past four years, Mexico has submitted information about more than 74,000 guns seized south of the border that the government suspects were smuggled from the United States. But much of the data is so incomplete as to be useless and has not helped authorities bust the gunrunners who supply the Mexican mafias with their vast armories, officials said.

snip...

Mexico has some of the strictest gun laws in the world. It is extremely difficult for citizens to legally buy or possess pistols or rifles. The country has just one gun store, operated by the military. And yet it is awash in weapons, from the ubiquitous 9mm handguns found in the glove box of every thug in Mexico to .50-caliber sniper rifles capable of downing a helicopter. Both guns are sold legally in the United States and are easily obtainable in the worldwide black market in arms. More than 28,000 Mexicans have died in drug violence in the past four years.

As a pillar of a $1.4 billion aid program to Mexico to fight the surging violence and corrupting power of the drug cartels, the U.S. government announced three years ago that it would provide Mexico with its proprietary eTrace Internet-based system. On Tuesday in Mexico City, U.S. and Mexican officials signed a memorandum of understanding allowing for its full implementation.

The ATF describes the system as "a cornerstone" of its effort to fight arms trafficking to Mexico. Users enter basic data about a weapon, such as its make, model and serial number, and then receive vital intelligence from the ATF about where and when it was manufactured and sold, and to whom.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/06/AR2010100607018.html

[sharesunited]

1. The right of the people to perpetually act out shall not be infringed.

Making all your other supposed freedoms and protections moot.

[RSillsbee]

2. You do know this has been pretty throughly debunked right?

I'd almost say posting it as fact could be construed as deliberately disingenuous


According to FactCheck.org both the 90 percent and the 17 percent figure are inaccurate. FactCheck.org believes that somewhere around 36 percent of guns used in crimes that take place in Mexico were bought in the United States.

The 90 percent figure is false because it only considers the number of guns that Mexico submits to the Bureau of Alcohol, tobacco, and Firearms for testing. Since the government of Mexico only sends those guns it believes were bought in the US for testing many weapons are never traced.

The 17 percent figure, promoted by Fox News, is wrong because it incorrectly focuses only on testimony given to Congress about the number of guns recovered in Mexico that can be traced to individual states. Since many of the guns can not be directly traced to any state many recovered guns were not included in the numbers used by Fox News.

http://americanreality.wordpress.com/2009/04/20/debunking-spin-about-us-guns-going-to-mexico/

Even Faux Snooze occasionally gets it right

[depakid]

3. Nothing cited in this articvle has been "debunked"

[onehandle]

4. Some blog post from a year and a half ago 'debunks' a story from today?

Well, if you say so.

[RSillsbee]

5. Perhaps you'll find this a more credible source

Contrary to the notion that the cartels depend on semi-automatic rifles bought illegally in the United States, the cartel conducted its attacks with a variety of weapons that cannot be legally bought anywhere in our country. As the Los Angeles Times reported, "In coordinated attacks, gunmen in armored cars and equipped with grenade launchers fought army troops this week. . . . The army said it confiscated armored cars, grenade launchers, about 100 military-grade grenades, explosive devices" in addition to a large quantity of ammunition.
http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Federal/Read.aspx?id=5680

Perhaps you'll find DHS an objective source

DHS officials separately question the statistic involving the origination of weapons as currently presented by GAO," DHS said. "GAO asserts that, 'Available evidence suggests most firearms recovered in Mexico come from U.S. gun dealers, and many support Drug Trafficking Organizations.' and fuel Mexican drug violence. Using the Department of Justice's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) eTrace data, GAO determined that about 87 percent of firearms seized by Mexican authorities and traced from fiscal years 2004 to 2008 originated in the United States. DHS officials believe that the 87 percent statistic is misleading as the reference should include the number of weapons that could not be traced (i.e., out of approximately 30,000 weapons seized in Mexico, approximately 4,000 could be traced and 87 percent of those—3,480—originated in the United States.) Numerous problems with the data collection and sample population render this assertion as unreliable."

The cartels are using automatic weapons that are unavailable in the United States.

I'm curious, since this article clearly fits the criteria for posting in the "guns" forum why would you post it in "Latest Breaking News" ? Especially since it clearly isn't?