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View Full Version : "90% of guns in Mexico come from US"??? Ummm, try 17 percent



Little-Acorn
04-02-2009, 10:59 AM
It's getting to be a well-established pattern. Whenever today's leftist extremists announce some "statistic" that supports their cause, check into it carefully. It usually turns out to be false.

The leftists have been working for a while on the story that the violence in Mexico is the U.S.'s fault, and that we must start banning guns from our own citizens in order to help Mexico. Of course, they've used every excuse under the sun to ban guns from law-abiding American citizens, and this is just the latest try. It seems to be the "reason behind the push to reinstate the failed "Assault Weapons Ban" - the one that didn't ban any assault weapons and made no difference in crime rates during the ten years it was in place.

Unsurprisingly, it's not true.

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elections/2009/04/02/myth-percent-guns-mexico-fraction-number-claimed/

The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S.

While 90 percent of the guns traced to the U.S. actually originated in the United States, the percent traced to the U.S. is only about 17 percent of the total number of guns reaching Mexico.

By William La Jeunesse and Maxim Lott
FOXNews.com
Thursday, April 02, 2009

EXCLUSIVE: You've heard this shocking "fact" before -- on TV and radio, in newspapers, on the Internet and from the highest politicians in the land: 90 percent of the weapons used to commit crimes in Mexico come from the United States.

-- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it to reporters on a flight to Mexico City.

-- CBS newsman Bob Schieffer referred to it while interviewing President Obama.

-- California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said at a Senate hearing: "It is unacceptable to have 90 percent of the guns that are picked up in Mexico and used to shoot judges, police officers and mayors ... come from the United States."

-- William Hoover, assistant director for field operations at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, testified in the House of Representatives that "there is more than enough evidence to indicate that over 90 percent of the firearms that have either been recovered in, or interdicted in transport to Mexico, originated from various sources within the United States."

There's just one problem with the 90 percent "statistic" and it's a big one:

It's just not true.

In fact, it's not even close. By all accounts, it's probably around 17 percent.

What's true, an ATF spokeswoman told FOXNews.com, in a clarification of the statistic used by her own agency's assistant director, "is that over 90 percent of the traced firearms originate from the U.S."

But a large percentage of the guns recovered in Mexico do not get sent back to the U.S. for tracing, because it is obvious from their markings that they do not come from the U.S.

"Not every weapon seized in Mexico has a serial number on it that would make it traceable, and the U.S. effort to trace weapons really only extends to weapons that have been in the U.S. market," Matt Allen, special agent of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told FOX News.

A Look at the Numbers

In 2007-2008, according to ATF Special Agent William Newell, Mexico submitted 11,000 guns to the ATF for tracing. Close to 6,000 were successfully traced -- and of those, 90 percent -- 5,114 to be exact, according to testimony in Congress by William Hoover -- were found to have come from the U.S.

But in those same two years, according to the Mexican government, 29,000 guns were recovered at crime scenes.

In other words, 68 percent of the guns that were recovered were never submitted for tracing. And when you weed out the roughly 6,000 guns that could not be traced from the remaining 32 percent, it means 83 percent of the guns found at crime scenes in Mexico could not be traced to the U.S.

So, if not from the U.S., where do they come from? There are a variety of sources:

-- The Black Market. Mexico is a virtual arms bazaar, with fragmentation grenades from South Korea, AK-47s from China, and shoulder-fired rocket launchers from Spain, Israel and former Soviet bloc manufacturers.


(Full text of this article can be read at the above URL)

emmett
04-02-2009, 11:57 AM
I would actually challenge the 17% frankly. I just don't believe it! Maybe 5%. Never the less, most all of those are illegal because they are smuggled in or sold as copies. No matter where a gun comes from that is in the hands of a law abiding citizen, the gun is NO threat what so ever to anyone at any time....EVER!

Guns made right here at home are dangerous in the hands of a criminal. So are cars, knives, boltcutters, hammers, etc,........

The left realizes that the exact true reason for the second Amendment, which calls for citizens to take arms in a well organized militia against a government that improperly rules over it's people by means of resorting to the tactics that caused the American Revolution in the first place, leaves them powerless without eliminating this threat to their Socialist ways.

I wouldn't think it likely a platoon of faggots, college kids and lazy ass welfare reciepiants wouldn't have much chance against a platoon of "armed" hard working American farmers, business owners who had been sued by some ambulance chasing lawyer, liberty lovers and true Americans who believed they were fighting for their very survival.

It would be very interesting to see how many American soldiers would throw down their arms in rebellion, citing an order to fire on American citizens is unlawful therefore leaving them unable to obey the order. The idea of the sight of those pannywastes in Washington running around trying to figure out why things had gotten to this is hilarious! I feel they will learn it however when they institute a gun ban.

I remember when i was younger I used to think those extremist groups were so stupid. The things they preached seemed so far fetched and hatefilled. I thought why would the citizenry ever have a reason to take up arms against their own government? I always believed that in general most lawmakers, while they may have differed in philosophy, were out to accomplished basically the same thing with a different ideaology. I'm sorry to say that I do not feel this way any more. I've always been a strong supporter of the "Right to keep and bear Arms" so as to protect myself and my family from criminals. The idea of using said weapons against my own government was and still is essentially, unfathonable! But just think....what if? What if the US Government actually tried to take away my protection? What would I do? I couldn't surrender the guns. I don't have to. My country's Constitution says I don't have to. The Second Amendment says my right WILL NOT be infringed upon.

What is truly unbelievable is that I would lose a moments sleep over this issue! The article posted here is basically rhetoric spewed out by the sect that supports such activity. 90% of guns brought in from Mexico? Ridiculous! And for that matter, what difference does it make? What if this statistic was true? It would be the fault of this very wing of political belief that caused it for their failure to support efforts to properly patrol the border that they themselves claim are the ones being violated by this intrusion of illegal weapons. It's a no brainer. It's nothing more than opportunistic rhetoric!!!

Our government has been hijacked! Right under our nose we have allowed philosophy to evolve slowly that is conducive with something completely different than that of what we truly stand for. Our power hungry politicians having used the "freebie, entitlement and social" candy to a child philosophy which has influenced a generation of people's thoughts about what our country stands for. The gun issue, which may become over the next few years, the biggest hotbed of debate ever, threatens clearly the left's ability to further force down our throats this "New World Order" way of life we have been presented with. They know they cannot do it so long as Americans are armed. The left isn't armed and would depend on Government forces to do their job for them while they stand back holding their jackets and spewing hatred such as they have become so inept at.

But first as with all Lefty strategies they must create fear! They must scare the average American into thinking that guns are dangerous! They will use the US Government News Agency to accomplish this. They will use the power of the Executive Branch of Government to break down and destroy free market enterprise to create a powerless economy by which to fund resistance. They will use hate spewing tactics such as issues about the enviornment to make people think consevatives and liberty lovers are intentionally destroying the planet so as to enjoy the now with no regard for the future.

Little-Acorn
04-02-2009, 12:22 PM
I wonder how many of the 17%, are guns that the US sold legally to the Mexican military or other divisions of the Mex government, and which then got stolen or bootlegged out to civilians?