The ‘America Is Arming Mexico’s Drug Gangs’ Lie
by Dan Gifford“There is an iron river of guns that flows South into Mexico [from the United States] to supply criminal organizations on the border,” says Tom Mangan, senior special agent with Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) in Phoenix. “They are in the market for machine guns, hand grenades, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles,” he continues. That’s right. The drug gangs can’t buy that and other military stuff like the 40MM grenades (the silver things in the upper left) and the rifles with launchers shown in the photo below in Mexico, so they drive to the United States and purchase them from American gun dealers at retail. Isn’t that the story you’ve been told? Well, congratulations. America’s First Amendment protected propaganda ministry has punked you on another important issue — this time on behalf of dissembling officials and gun confiscation advocates.
For the benefit of those who may not know, machine guns (not the same thing as the demonized “semi-automatic”), hand grenades, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and other such military items are illegal to possess by US civilians, which means they are not for sale in gun stores. OK, in the interest of extreme accuracy for anyone in need, there are some civilian owned machine-guns in America, but they all have to have been registered with the ATF by 1986 as evidence that a special Treasury tax has been paid and the owner’s residence state has to approve the possession. What’s more, none of these arms has ever been involved in a crime, to my knowledge, and all are considered very pricey collectors items. That means they are not for sale to or in the hands of Mexican drug goons.
That raises some questions:
If Mexican gangsters are not buying military weapons in the United States, why do people like ATF officials, Attorney General Holder, Secretary of State Clinton, gun prohibitionists like Sarah Brady and multitudes of media talking heads claim they are while calling for an American “assault weapon” ban they say will to keep the Mexican drug gangs from buying what they really aren’t buying here because they can’t?
And if Mexican gangsters are not buying their military weapons in America from gun dealers as claimed, where are they buying them?
Confused? Well, as Fox News’ pundit Charles Krauthammer explained in one of his 1996 Washington Post columns, the answer to question one is quite simple:
Passing a law like the assault weapons ban is symbolic — purely symbolic … In fact, the assault weapons ban will have no effect either on the crime rate or on personal security. Nonetheless, it is a good idea … Its only real justification is not to reduce crime but to desensitize the public to the regulation of weapons in preparation for their ultimate confiscation … Ultimately, a civilized society must disarm its citizenry if it is to have a modicum of domestic tranquillity of the kind enjoyed in sister democracies like Canada and Britain … Yes, Sarah Brady is doing God’s work.
Krauthammer is able to so clearly state the obvious that most government officials, politicians, gun banners and reporters keep denying because he does not have to lie to voters in order to stay in office or keep donations coming in, as Sarah Brady does. Neither do I. So please note that all the public safety blather about “plastic guns” that can evade metal screener detection, “cop killer bullets” that are specifically made to murder police officers, “Saturday Night Specials” which are unsafe for anyone to possess (except for police — there’s always a police exception) and the other oft repeated gun control paradigms are simply bogus media ready scare phrases that have zero to do with public safety and everything to do with eventually outlawing the private ownership of firearms.
Maybe you agree with that goal and maybe you don’t, but that’s the object of “reasonable gun control” advocacy.
The answer to the second question is equally obvious. Gun running from the United States into Mexico has been going on since the 1800s. But the stuff bought or stolen here is not the military weaponry we are continually told is arming the gangs there. This paragraph from a Los Angeles Times story managed to get the story right even if nobody else in the media will report it:
Most of these [military] weapons are being smuggled from Central American countries or by sea, eluding U.S. and Mexican monitors who are focused on the smuggling of semi-automatic and conventional weapons purchased from dealers in the U.S. border states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. . . . The enhanced weaponry represents a wide sampling from the international arms bazaar, with grenades and launchers produced by U.S., South Korean, Israeli, Spanish or former Soviet bloc manufacturers. Many had been sold legally to governments, including Mexico’s, and then were diverted onto the black market. Some may be sold directly to the traffickers by corrupt elements of national armies, authorities and experts say … These groups appear to be taking advantage of a robust global black market and porous borders, especially between Mexico and Guatemala. Some of the weapons are left over from the wars that the United States helped fight in Central America, U.S. officials said.
Stratfor, a private intelligence agency, noted more:
Grenades used in three recent attacks in Monterey, Mexico, and Pharr, Texas, all originated from the same lot delivered from South Korea.
So let’s recap.
Attorney General Holder, Secretary of State Clinton, ATF officials and a host of others claim that an “assault weapon ban” against American civilians will keep Mexican drug cartels with gazillions of dollars in their jeans from buying military weapons on the international black market.
Hey, makes sense to me.
Latte anyone?
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
| 
Follow Us on Twitter
Subscribe via RSS
Tips & Feedback
9 Comments
[...] Gifford has an informative piece in Big Hollywood entitled, “The ‘America Is Arming Mexico’s Drug Gangs’ Lie“: “There is an iron river of guns that flows South into Mexico [from the United States] to [...]
[...] Dan Gifford has quite a bit. [...]
The ATF, under oath, has only claimed that 90% of the guns that they can trace, of those given to them by the Mexican government to trace, which is less than 25% of the guns that the Mexican government has reported seized, can be traced to US gun dealers. On the other hand, there is rampant corruption in the Mexican government and the United States government gives Mexico billions in aid AND guns to combat drugs, so it wouldn't be surprising if the United States government was indirectly the source of many of the guns that end up with the cartels. Neither the Mexican government or the US government would want to admit that. So they blame us instead.
It really doesn't matter what kind of weapons the drug thugs are using, but it does matter that they are not U.S. supplied. Pick your trading partner; China, South Korea, Russia or any others, there have always been plenty of arms available for any conflict. The deception in this one lies in the lack of congressional will or support to quell the violence and the gun control tactics arising from something not even remotely related. It rings a common note with the 12 million illegals residing in this country and the millions more that will join them if the border fails. It's another dirty lie, these people are worth something to someone, whenever you follow the money it will lead you to the truth regardless how unpleasant it is.
You're assumption may be correct they would not likely use our armed forces on home turf against the people but there is a default with plenty of troops and armament i.e. NATO and the UN forces. These forces have been rapidly expanding their area of influence.
How about this Will. To give personal testimony about the BATF and other Federal Agents lying in court.
1. Ruby Ridge incident. They lied to the FBI at the beginning of the incident, they lied in court (proven by the not guilty verdict handed down on the "illegal shotguns" that were supposedly sold…) , and they lied to Congress when questioned why the incident was allowed to grow so out of control. Janet Reno was even dismayed at the lack of professionalism.
2. I was arrested in 1993 for "possession of an illegal firearm". During this time I was treated as though I was a convict, prior to the outcome of the case. The "illegal firearm" that I possessed was a pistol that was built by my grandfather's brother in 1908. This "illegal firearm" was an early cartridge revolver in a caliber that was not readily available and no longer in manufacture. See, what made the firearm illegal is that it didn't have a serial number. The fact that it didn't have a serial number wasn't surprising as serial numbers weren't required in 1908. During the jury trial, which I insisted upon, several reports were read aloud that originated from the BATF agents that inspected my home and found the "illegal firearm". Keep in mind this was in 1993, under Klinton and gang. I owned Class III firearms and was subject to inspections by the BATF which was where my charges originated. Back to the reports, these reports (2 of them, one from each agent that was inspecting my home) stated that the serial number had been filed off of the "illegal firearm". Their reports stated that I had told them that I bought it that way. Their report stated that I told them that I had polished the area that was supposed to contain the serial number so that it was more difficult to tell it had been removed. Both of these lies were refuted rather easily, however, it cost me a great deal of money and a great deal of my lifetime of worry. See, it was easy to prove that they were lying by simply hiring a firearms expert who was a former BATF agent. His testimony is the only reason I am not sporting a felony conviction. Wouldn't it be nice to live in a world where we didn't have to fear the government? By the way, my Class III firearms were confiscated at the time of my arrest. I didn't receive them back until 2001, eight whole years after they were taken from me, illegally and via fabricated charges, even after I had 20 years of government service under my belt.
To shorten this a bit, Will, I have more doubt that the BATF can be honest than most. I find that it just may be plausible that there was inappropriate action taken by A.) a female who feels she must "prove herself" (but doesn't) amongst her male counter parts and B.) someone who finds their authority challenged by someone she deems as a mere criminal, beneath her contempt. Did it happen? Who knows, you weren't there and neither was I, but I can tell you this, the BATF has stated publicly quite a few times that their main goal has been to restrict the possession of firearms to the best of their ability. IF they get the authority, you can bet your ass that the BATF will go house to house. They'll utilize any means necessary to ensure that you have to prove you aren't a criminal instead of them having to prove you are.
I can tell you as a matter of fact Will, that you, as a BATF agent may feel that you are respected by other federal law enforcement, but the consensus is the opposite, especially inside the FBI. And yes, I could get hired and did. Also, did I mention that I was in the US Army at the time of my encounter with the BATF? The Klintons' care for the military at the time was as disheartening as Rosie O'donnel's return to TV. But I digress.
Sorry to nitpick but it translates to "Storm Rifle"
Hardball, for the longest time the firearms experts 'talking heads' have referred to the Stg44 as meaning 'assault rifle' in German…HOWEVER I am not one to quibble as from my limited knowlege of the term 'Sturm' -in German military usage-means roughly 'to storm' or 'assult' so it could simply be the 'experts' choose use 'assault' instead of 'storm'…a MINOR semantic hairsplitter.
[...] low level mayors and city councilmen. I’m talking about Obama and Clinton… Here’s a great article about the whole [...]
You must be logged in to post a comment.