U.S. guns bolster Mexico violence
Posted 1/18/2007 4:24 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print | By Chris Hawley and Sergio Solache, The Arizona Republic MEXICO CITY — Combat-style rifles are pouring into Mexico, thanks to the end of the U.S. Assault Weapons Ban in 2004 and an arms race among several Mexican cartels battling for control of lucrative drug routes.
The weapons are purchased at stores and gun shows, then smuggled into Mexico under car seats or tucked into suitcases.
"There is a direct relationship between the flow of these weapons and the explosion of violence," said Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, Mexico's deputy attorney general for organized crime.
The surge in guns comes as new president Felipe Calderon is cracking down on drug-related violence along the border and in interior states notorious for illicit trade. To help stem the flow of weapons, authorities in Mexico and the United States have formed police task forces, installed X-ray scanners on the Mexican side of border crossings and launched gun buy-back programs in Mexican border cities.
But seizures across Mexico show guns are still getting in. The number of weapons confiscated by Mexican authorities has been rising since 2002, and reached 10,579 in 2005. The 2006 catch looks to be even bigger, with more than 8,200 guns seized as of June. Ninety percent of those weapons come from the United States, according to Mexican officials.
James Ramey of Little Rock, works about 50 U.S. gun shows a year, selling $30 gadgets that turn any assault rifle into a machine gun. He explained how the Mexican gangs buy their weapons at weekend shows in border cities.
"They send over a scout on Saturday to see if there's anything they want," he said. "Then they show up on Sunday with a big wad of money and somebody who's got a clean record, who's legal to buy."
Authorities say the flow of combat-style weapons increased after the U.S. 1994 Assault Weapons Ban expired in September 2004. Customers in most states now are able to buy fully equipped versions of the weapons, right off the rack.
Seven states still have laws against such weapons: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. Washington, D.C., and some cities in Ohio and Illinois also have banned them.
Mexican police now regularly turn up arsenals worthy of the U.S. Marines. One stash found in November in Guerrero state included 11 AR-15s, two AK-47s, ammunition, magazines, hand grenades, bulletproof vests, fatigues and combat boots.
Between July 2005 and February 2006, the U.S government's Border Security Enforcement Taskforce in Laredo, Texas, seized 36 assault rifles bound for Mexico, along with several kits to modify them for automatic fire. In Arizona, a newly formed BEST team has seized 28 assault weapons since March.
"On every case, every individual we have arrested has been fully armed with high-powered weapons," said Louie Garcia, assistant special agent in charge with Arizona's BEST team.
The drug smugglers get their guns from the United States because Mexico's own gun laws are much stricter, at least in theory. Mexicans are allowed to keep one small-caliber weapon in their homes for self-defense but cannot move it to another place.
All gun buyers must have a permit from the Mexican Defense Department. Applicants have to pass a psychological exam and a background check, then submit financial documents to prove they are upstanding citizens. Nationwide, in a country of 110 million people, there are only 4,323 weapons legally held by citizens, according to the Mexican government.
In the United States, buying guns is easier. At gun stores in Arizona, customers only have to fill out a form and pass a criminal background check conducted by telephone through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The check takes less than 10 minutes.
Gun-control advocates complain that high-ranking U.S. officials refuse to blame the United States for the flow of guns to Mexico.
"I don't know where the weapons come from," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told Congress in February. "Wherever the weapons come from, they're dangerous."
Mexican officials call that a cop-out. Reimposing the U.S. Assault Weapons Ban would go a long way toward stemming violence along the border, said Santiago Vasconcelos, Mexico's deputy attorney general for organized crime.
"These weapons come from your country, we know that for a fact," he said.
Gun control logic
by Gregor 174 Replies latest social current
-
sammielee24
-
funkyderek
Brother Apostate:
I could go on and on, but I believe I’ve made my point. You do the math.
You did go on and on, but I'd strongly advise you to check your math.
-
Brother Apostate
sammie,
Those "250 million guns" (if that is the real number)- are they distributed evenly across the nation? No. Are some of those "250 million guns" in the hands of law enforcement and the military? Yes. Of those that are left, the rest are distributed amongst 80 million gun owners in the US.
Some interesting statistics for your consideration:
Doctors:
(A) The number of physicians in the U.S. is 700,000.
(B) Accidental deaths caused by Physicians per year are 120,000.
(C) Accidental deaths per physician is 0.171
(Statistics courtesy of U.S. Dept. of Health Human Services)
Guns:
(A) The number of gun owners in the U.S. is 80 million.
(B) The number of accidental gun deaths per year, all age groups, is 1,500.
(C) The number of accidental deaths per gun owner is 0.000188.
Statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun owners.
Remember, "Guns don't kill people, doctors do."
Seriously, though- Health care is a seperate subject- it does need to be addressed, but it's a red herring.
Cheers,
BA
-
Brother Apostate
Sammie,
Yep, it is true that a criminal would have no issue with obtaining weapons illegally, and converting semi-automatic weapons to automatic weapons.
A law abiding citizen, the vast majority of semi-automatic weapons owners, would never do so.
All the more reason for law abiding citizens, to arm themselves against criminals.
I do concede that better background checks are needed.
BA- Thanks the founding fathers for the 2nd Amendment!!!
PS- There will never be enough law enforcement in the wrong place at the right time.
-
journey-on
Brother Apostate.....I've just got to say it: You are always right on with your information and have the savvy to present it so eloquently. You see the deeper aspects of this issue and you allow no one to baffle you with bullshit. (just mho)
-
Brother Apostate
FunkyD,
Care to point out where you believe I am in error?
BA
-
sammielee24
Seriously, though- Health care is a seperate subject- it does need to be addressed, but it's a red herring
How so? I see the connection between the two as solid and inseparable. If one argues that you have the 'right' to own a firearm that must mean that you also have the 'right' to use it. If I was one of the wounded in this latest crime - wounded because of a persons 'right' to bear arms and 'right' to use those arms - my right to life has been taken away because in actual fact, it costs money to get the bullet taken out and the wound sealed up - not to mention all the therapy - so if I don't have the money, I don't get the care I need which means my life as it was, my future as it would be and my physical abilities may be limited. When someone is shot it alters their life but we honor the right for someone to own and use a weapon and on the other hand don't give them the right to access medical care as freely. It's kind of like the 'supporting the troops' catch all we hear constantly. The troops are supported when they come back and we find 600,000 of them falling through the cracks homeless. They aren't supported when they don't have the health care they need because they can't afford it. When one 'right' affects another major 'right' in the issue of life, I see them all as a whole and not incomplete. sammieswife.
-
funkyderek
Brother Apostate:
Care to point out where you believe I am in error?
I thought giving it a second look would have made it clear, but never mind. I have some time.
Denmark has one fifth as many guns per capita as USA, yet Denmark’s Gun Death Rate is three quarters the per capita Gun Death Rate of the US
2.48/13.47 = 0.184, a little less than one-fifth, what you would expect if there was a correlation.
USA has 21 times as many guns per capita as Netherlands, yet Netherlands’ Gun Death Rate is only one forth the per capita Gun Death Rate of the US
0.55/13.47 = 0.041 (= about 1/24) again an almost perfect correlation.
USA has 4100 times! as many guns per capita as Singapore, yet Singapore’s Gun Death Rate is 56 times! the per capita Gun Death Rate of the US
0.24/13.47 = 0.017 - you've obviously reversed that. It's the US whose Gun Death Rate is 56 times that of Singapore.
The other countries statistics all show that the amount of gun deaths in the USA is actually far higher than one would expect given the percentage of guns. All the statistics seem to show that not only do Americans have more guns than everybody else, they are also more inclined to use them to kill.
And your solution is to give them more guns. Your logic must be worse than your maths.
Actually, now that you can see there is in fact a correlation between the availability of guns and gun deaths, have you changed your position?
-
sammielee24
I think there can be a compromise on the gun issue but just for interests sake here's another 'expert' report -
I must confess to being a member of a very dangerous group. I am a physician: we cause more than 100,000 deaths per year in the USA by mistakes and various degrees of carelessness in treating our patients. Why does society tolerate us?
Because we save far more patients than we kill. Firearms are entirely analogous. Although used in far fewer deaths* – they are used to prevent about 75 crimes for each death. Firearms, like physicians, prevent far more deaths than they cause. (Kleck, Gary, Point Blank: Guns and Violence in America, Hawthorne, NY, Aldine de Gruyter Publisher, 1991).
Footnote* When anti-gun activists list the number of deaths per year from firearms they neglect to mention that 60% of the 30,000 figure they often use are suicides. They also fail to mention that at least three-quarters of the 12,000 homicides are criminals killing other criminals in disputes over illicit drugs, or police shooting criminals engaged in felonies. Subtracting those we are left with no more than 3,000 deaths that I think most would consider truly lamentable.
Dr. Martin Fackler is America's most foremost forensic expert on ballistic injuries
-
Brother Apostate
sammieswife,
Health care is a sperate issue. Why?
Substitute "gun" for knife, rock, spear, stick, fist, foot, head-but, baseball bat, explosives, cleaning products, etc in your statement.
Health care is neccessary for all injuries, whether caused by a human, animal, deliberately or accidentally.
I agree with you that Health care is a major isue, but for the reasons outlined above, it's a seperate subject, though potentially related.
BA
