| U.S. border of Mexico Guns |
U.S-Mexico effort key in cutting off weapons
By Roberto Rodríguez / Guest columnist
Posted: 05/24/2009 12:00:00 AM MDT
I am writing in regard to Diana Washington's article, "Mexico data overstate weapons traced to U.S.," published by your daily on May 14.
The government of Mexico remains concerned over the flow of small arms that prolongs the drug-related violence that has plagued Ciudad Juárez and other localities for over a year. Being neighbors has presented unparalleled opportunities for both our countries for many years.
The issue of arms trafficking has always been on the bilateral agenda, as would be expected by any country geographically linked to the largest arms producer in the world.
The transnational nature of drug-trafficking makes it difficult for Mexico to successfully confront this threat on its own, especially as criminal organizations operating on both sides of the border are financed with bulk cash and armed with weapons trafficked from the U.S. into Mexico. The routes, means of transportation and concealment methods used to smuggle arms into Mexico are similar to those observed in drug-trafficking.
Your reporter's allegation that the Mexican government "handpicked" wea pons for tracing by U.S. authorities, and that the statement that 90 percent of weapons are traced back to the United States is "overblown" is a denial of reality, not to mention retrograde of an era that has long passed.
I am referring to the time when our countries would point fingers at each other and blame one another for what were really common challenges that required joint responses.
Indeed,
90 percent of all weapons seized in Mexico and successfully traced by ATF originated in the U.S. While not all serial numbers could be provided for a variety of reasons, it is only logical that Mexico, a country with an insignificant arms industry of its own, has weapons coming in from a country with the logistical ease to bring the guns in.
On the matter of arms trafficking, both countries have now recognized the negative effects that the phenomenon has on public safety on both sides of the border.
Consequently, we have unprecedented cooperation on this issue.
We welcome the reinforcement of key agencies, such as ATF, along the border. While much work remains to be done, it is sad to see counterproductive allegations that do nothing but strengthen the drug cartels that have wreaked havoc on our law enforcement, military and society.
It is important to underscore that at no moment whatsoever has the Mexican government argued that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution needs to be in any way revised to address the illicit trafficking of weapons into Mexico.
In fact, the Mexican government has publicly and repeatedly emphasized that any change to the Second Amendment is a sovereign decision of the U.S. administration, Congress and the American people.
This is not a game of numbers, as any curtailment of arms flow will have a direct impact on the cartels.
In sum, the Mexican government needs the support of the U.S. to stop the illegal flow of weapons into Mexico as this would have a significant impact on and help disrupt the modus operandi of drug-trafficking organizations operating on both sides of the border, defanging them of their firepower and further fragmenting the drug syndicates.
Roberto Rodríguez is Consul General of Mexico.
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For Obama, Calderón, a Meeting of Minds
Leaders Disagree on One Issue: Urgency of Reinstating U.S. Ban on Assault Weapons
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 17, 2009
MEXICO CITY, April 16 -- President Obama and his Mexican counterpart, Felipe Calderón, outlined a common approach Thursday to combating drug violence, climate change and trade disputes but appeared to part ways over the urgency of reinstating a U.S. ban on assault weapons.
On his first presidential visit to Mexico, Obama praised Calderón for taking on the drug cartels, whose potent arsenals and economic power are threatening the integrity of the Mexican state. Obama announced that he will push the U.S. Senate to ratify an inter-American arms-trafficking treaty.
But Obama indicated that while he favors reinstating the U.S. ban on assault weapons, which Congress allowed to expire five years ago, the move would face too much political opposition to happen soon. He said better enforcing existing laws to prevent arms smuggling would have a more immediate effect on keeping U.S. weapons from Mexican cartels.
"I continue to believe that we can respect and honor the Second Amendment rights in our Constitution, the rights of sportsmen and hunters and homeowners who want to keep their families safe to lawfully bear arms, while dealing with assault weapons that, as we know, here in Mexico, are helping to fuel extraordinary violence," he said in a news conference with Calderón at Los Pinos, the presidential compound. "Now, having said that, I think none of us are under the illusion that reinstating that ban would be easy."
Calderón said drug violence has soared since the assault weapons ban expired. He said he favors a solution "respecting the constitutional rights of the Americans [that] at the same time will prevent, or rather avoid, that organized crime becomes better organized in our country."
"But crime is not only acting in Mexico," he said. "It is also acting in the United States. Organized crime is acting in both countries."
Obama's visit, the first by a U.S. president to the capital since a Bill Clinton stop in 1997, represents a show of support for Calderón, who two years ago became the first Mexican president to fully deploy the army against drug cartels that supply a lucrative U.S. market.
Since then, more than 10,000 people have died in drug-related violence. The Bush administration won approval of a three-year, $1.4 billion counternarcotics package for Mexico and some Central American countries last June, but the military hardware has been slow in arriving. Obama pledged to expedite its delivery.
The two men expressed confidence they would resolve a trade dispute originating in a vote last month by the U.S. Congress to cancel a pilot program allowing Mexican truckers on U.S. highways, as permitted by the North American Free Trade Agreement. They emphasized the need for comprehensive immigration reform, although Obama did not say when he intended to push such legislation in Congress.
And they announced a new partnership to promote clean energy and reduce greenhouse gases in both countries by sharing academic research and promoting alternative energy sources such as wind and solar power along the border, among other measures.
But the drug violence dominated their public appearance on a day when the Mexican military engaged in a firefight with suspected drug traffickers in the southern state of Guerrero. The battle left 15 smugglers and one soldier dead, and the military said it confiscated assault rifles and grenades in the aftermath.
Obama said more than 90 percent of weapons seized by Mexican authorities have come from the United States. In the days leading up to the president's visit here, senior Obama administration officials said the government was focused on enforcing existing U.S. laws to stop arms smuggling, although Mexican officials had called for more help.
For Obama, Calderón, a Meeting of Minds
Obama's announcement on the treaty -- formally known as the Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related Materials -- marks an additional step.
The Clinton administration signed the treaty, better known by its Spanish acronym CIFTA, after the Organization of American States adopted it in 1997.
A senior Obama administration official said that "stemming the number of illegal firearms which flow into Latin America and the Caribbean is a high priority for the region and addresses a key hemispheric concern relating to people's personal security and well-being."
In all, 33 countries in the hemisphere have signed the treaty. The United States is one of four nations that have yet to ratify the convention, although Obama administration officials say the U.S. government has sought to abide by its spirit for years. The treaty was sent to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1998, but no action has been taken since then.
The treaty requires countries to take steps to reduce the illegal manufacture and trade in guns, ammunition and explosives. It also calls for countries to adopt strict licensing requirements, mark firearms when they are made and imported to make them easier to trace, and establish a process for sharing information between national law enforcement agencies investigating smuggling.
Denis McDonough, director for strategic communications at the National Security Council, said the convention is on a list of treaties that the administration has submitted to Congress that it considers priorities. Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement, "I support the convention and plan to work for its approval by the Senate."
Johanna Mendelson Forman, senior associate of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said, "This goes beyond symbolism."
"It sends not only a positive message to Mexico but also to the region that the United States wants to be a reliable partner in improving security," she said.
Correspondent William Booth in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, contributed to this report.
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EDITORIAL: Obama's gun lies
By | Monday, April 20, 2009
The "liar, liar pants on fire" argument usually isn't the most effective. But when it comes to guns, President Obama is lying through his teeth.
On Thursday, while on a visit to Mexico, the president continued his Blame America First tour. "This war is being waged with guns purchased not here but in the United States," he said, referring to the drug wars that are tearing apart our neighbor to the south. "More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States, many from gun shops that lay in our shared border."
It is completely untrue that 90 percent of guns recovered in Mexico are from America. The Mexican government separates guns it confiscates that were made in the United States and sends them here to be traced. U.S. weapons are easy to identify because of clear markings.
Of the ones sent here to be traced, 90 percent turn out to be from America, but most guns recovered in Mexico are not sent here so are not included in the count. Fox News reported that 17 percent is a more accurate number.
Democrats aren't alone in repeating phony gun statistics. The New York Times, CNN and numerous networks continue to repeat the 90 percent figure with no reporting to back it up. The hysteria is used to create the notion that a major problem exists with American guns - and Mr. Obama is anxious to step in to solve that problem with a $400 million program to stop U.S. guns from going to Mexico. That initiative would include clampdowns on U.S. gun shops.
It is ridiculous for Mr. Obama to blame Mexico's lawlessness on Americans as if the longstanding corruption of Mexican elected officials, judges and law-enforcement officers has nothing to do with it.
One of the root causes of corruption is low pay. Mexican police earn $460 a month, sometimes less, which makes bribes hard to resist. There are about 350,000 policemen in Mexico. The $400 million Mr. Obama has promised for his anti-gun program could raise the annual salary of every Mexican cop by $1,143, a 21 percent increase. But the president wouldn't be interested in that because his real agenda is to pursue gun control here at home.
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NRA official rips weapons-ban bid
Calls linkage to Mexican gangs 'phony'
By Kara Rowland (Contact) | Monday, April 20, 2009
A top National Rifle Association official said the Obama administration is using the increasingly violent drug cartels in Mexico as an excuse to push for reinstating the ban on assault weapons.
"They're trying to piggyback this whole phony issue on the back of the tragedy in Mexico," said Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the gun-rights group, on CBS' "Face the Nation" program Sunday.
In a speech in Mexico last week, President Obama - who on the campaign trail called for reinstating the ban, which expired in 2004 - said that while the prohibition made sense, pushing for it now would be a political non-starter. But in the meantime, he said, the country should enforce existing laws more vigorously.
White House senior adviser David Axelrod said in another "Face the Nation" segment that the administration will "monitor" the issue, which is complicated by opposition from dozens of moderate Democrats from the more-conservative "red" states.
"If there's a consensus, we'll move on it," Mr. Axelrod said on the program. "We're faced with an enormous array of challenges, and we need to make some choices as to which to pursue first."
Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell called on Congress to reinstate the ban, after three Pittsburgh policemen were killed recently by a man with an AK-47. But the Democratic governor said he understands Mr. Obama's decision not to raise the matter now, with major issues such as the economy and health care on the table.
"But I think it has to be brought up in the near future, because every police organization in this country supports, virtually everyone supports, banning assault weapons," he said, appearing Sunday on CBS alongside Mr. LaPierre.
Mr. LaPierre said that assault weapons are "functionally no different than any other gun" and that Mr. Rendell and other supporters of the ban are distorting the facts.
The 1994 assault-weapons ban "was enacted ... on the basis of saying these were machine guns. That's a lie. They were rapid-fire. That's a lie. They made bigger holes. That's a lie. They were more powerful. That's a lie. It was lie after lie after lie," he said. "Congress found it out. That's why they let it expire, and lies that are found out don't get re-enacted."
Mr. LaPierre also accused administration officials of misstating the percentage of guns used in Mexican crimes that are smuggled into Mexico from the U.S., challenging a popularly cited figure of 90 percent that Mr. Obama used in his speech.
He said there is no proof for the figure, which has also been referenced by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
"I challenge the president of the United States and the media to prove that 90 percent of the guns used by the drug cartels are being smuggled," Mr. LaPierre said.
"The only people that have ever put up their hand in the air and testified under oath on this is BATF, two weeks ago in Congress. And let me tell you what they said: 'I'm not sure where those institutes get these numbers,' " Mr. LaPierre concluded, referring to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
A recent Fox News analysis of the issue noted that the statistic only covers some of the guns that were submitted by Mexico to the BATF for tracing. Of those 11,000 guns, almost 6,000 could be traced, and more than 5,100 of those were linked to the U.S. - or close to 90 percent.
The statistic excludes the 5,000 guns that could not be traced, and also leaves out the 18,000 guns from Mexican crime scenes that were never sent to the U.S. because it was obvious the weapons came from somewhere else.
Mr. Rendell did not address the statistic.
In the often-tense debate, both men echoed traditional arguments for and against increased gun control.
"There's absolutely no reason under the sun, no rational reason that we should allow people to legally possess these types of semi-automatic assault weapons. They're made for one purpose. They're not used in a duck line for hunting. They're not used in the Olympics for target shooting. They're used to kill and maim people, and most often it's police officers," Mr. Rendell said.
Mr. LaPierre argued that increased gun-control limits won't deter killers and other criminals.
"Don't you get it? They're criminals. They violate all your laws," he sai
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| Senator Kerry YOU Are Full Of HOT AIR |
| FOX News Reports On The Myth Of "90 percent" |
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| Friday, April 03, 2009 |
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In a story that looks at the reality of firearms seized from Mexican drug cartels, Fox News has found that the truth does not match the rhetoric of anti-gun politicians and journalists.
In a story entitled "The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S." Fox reporters William La Jeunesse and Maxim Lott found that the 90% number far overstates the number of U.S. origin guns that are in the hands of the cartels. In fact, the story reports that the number is actually closer to 17%.
NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris Cox, quoted in the story said "Reporter after politician after news anchor just disregards the truth on this. The numbers are intentionally used to weaken the Second Amendment."
The story also details the other sources for weapons used by the cartels, including firearms from Russia, South America, Asia and even the Mexican Army.
Unsurprisingly, when contacted for comment, radical anti-gun activist Tom Diaz of the Violence Policy Center called the issue a "red herring." Ignoring the reality exposed by the Fox News story, Diaz remained adamant that U.S. gun laws are to blame, claiming, "We know that one hell of a lot of firearms come from the United States because our gun market is wide open."
Go here to read the entire story and get the truth about the guns seized from Mexican drug cartels.
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Kerry: No National Guard to Southern Border, Bring Back Assault Weapons Ban
The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says the U.S. and Mexico need to step up and build a "combined front" against Mexican drug smugglers, but using U.S. forces along the border could hurt the effort.
FOXNews.com
Monday, March 30, 2009
FILE: In this Nov. 7, 2008, photo a soldier stands guard during the presentation in Mexico City of arms, captured in the largest seizure of Gulf drug-cartel weapons to date, about 288 assault rifles, 500,000 rounds of ammunition, numerous grenades and several .50-caliber rifles (AP).
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Sending National Guard to the U.S. border of Mexico is "premature and possibly counterproductive," but reviving the assault weapons ban would help end the drug-related violence in Mexico, Sen. John Kerry said Monday.
The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said the U.S. and Mexico must work more closely to stop cross-border weapons smuggling and curb the American appetite for illegal drugs that is fueling the violence along the border.
"Americans are worried that the cartels will turn our cities and neighborhoods into the next front in the war. Drug trafficking and the ruthless violence it spawns know no borders. So far, the United States has largely been spared. But it is in our national interest, and it is our solemn obligation, to take steps today to help curtail the killing in Mexico," he said.
But, he added, any response by the U.S. to the violence "must be made in partnership with the Mexicans. The idea of dispatching the National Guard to the border is premature and possibly counterproductive."
Standing near the border in El Paso, Texas, where he convened a field hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry said the U.S. needs "to work harder to enforce existing gun laws against exporting weapons across international borders."
The Massachusetts Democrat said the U.S. must "revive the ban on importing assault rifles into the United States," which he attributed to the flood of weapons finding their way to Mexico. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms reports that the U.S. is responsible for close to 90 percent of the high-powered weapons that find their way to the Mexican drug cartels.
However, Kerry said that only about one out of every four weapons seized by Mexican authorities last year was submitted to ATF to be traced back to purchasers and sellers in the United States, and he urged the Mexican government to provide ATF with fuller access to these weapons.
Declaring "The drug trade recognizes no borders, and neither should law enforcement," Kerry said the U.S. and Mexico need to form a "combined front" against drug traffickers.
He also called for the Senate to ratify the 1997 Inter-American Convention Against Illicit Trafficking in Weapons and Explosives. Mexico proposed the document -- and the U.S. signed onto it at the time -- under the auspices of the Organization of American States as a means to try to shut down the black market for arms.
"It does not contradict any American gun laws. But ratification would send an important message about our commitment to fight the weapons trafficking that is fueling the violence in Mexico," Kerry said of the 12-year-old treaty.
According to Texas District Attorney Jaime Esparza, crime along the U.S. Southwest border has increased to levels never before seen. Authorities claim 6,290 drug-related deaths in Mexico in 2008.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says between $18 billion and $39 billion is spent annually in the U.S. on drugs from Colombia and Mexico.
Joseph Arabit, DEA special agent in charge of the El Paso division, said the Justice Department must expand its intelligence capabilities and use information generated by law enforcement agencies and government partners to assist Mexican authorities in attacking the cartels and their allies. He said the department must also focus its efforts on investigation, extradition, prosecution and punishment of key cartel leaders.
The Justice Department must also employ a strategy to specifically target the "leadership and financial assets" of cartels, Arabit said, although he cited the need for more money and more manpower to address the escalating violence.
He added that senior DEA and ATF officials are trying to combating violence associated with the "widespread distribution of drugs on our streets and in our neighborhoods, battles between members of rival cartels on American soil and violence directed against U.S. citizens and government interests."
William McMahon of the ATF proposed more inspection on southbound traffic going from the U.S. into Mexico.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., who was present at the hearing, called for an increase in sheriffs along the Southwest border, but he said stricter gun control was not a viable solution.
Despite the increased violence, Arabit said some progress has been made in fighting the drug cartels, including the arrest last month of more than "750 individuals on narcotics-related charges under Operation Xcellerator, a multi-agency, multi-national effort that began in May 2007 and targeted the Mexican drug trafficking organization known as the Sinaloa Cartel."
Kerry added that despite the stress the Mexican government is under in trying to control the violence, it is not a failed state.
"I am troubled by some in some quarters about Mexico becoming a failed state. Mexico is a functioning democracy," he said.
FOX News' Kris Gutierrez and Maggie Kerkman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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