Now the Mexicans want to control our guns to.

[Mike S]

You can't make it up...

Task force seeks ban on assault weapons
Group also wants overhaul of Mexican border agencies


By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 13, 2009

A binational task force on U.S.-Mexico border issues will call Friday on the Obama administration and Congress to reinstate an expired ban on assault weapons and for Mexico to overhaul its frontier police and customs agencies to mirror the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The recommendations are among a broad set of security, trade, development and environmental proposals that come as President Obama and his Mexicans counterpart, Felipe Calderón, move to deepen engagement on issues including economic recovery, climate change, illegal immigration and narcotics trafficking.

Robert C. Bonner, the U.S. co-chairman of the private task force, which included several former senior government officials from both countries, said the changes could be included in a follow-up to the Merida initiative, a $1.4 billion three-year commitment of U.S. aid to support Mexico's crackdown on drug cartels that ends next year.

The proposals "will transform management of the border from a source of contention and frustration into a model of cooperation," states a report by the Los Angeles-based Pacific Council on International Policy and the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations titled, "Rethinking the U.S.-Mexico Border." The 30-member task force blamed lack of collaboration for violence, billions of dollars in lost economic opportunities and a public perception of a "broken" system.

The study comes as Mexico's struggle to combat narco-traffickers and public corruption from the multibillion-dollar North American drug trade has forged a tighter relationship between the neighbors. In reaction, policy analysts and think tanks, most recently the School of the Northern Border in Mexico and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, have developed border development proposals.

Skeptics say U.S. attention to its troubled partner is outpaced by what it spends to combat drugs in places such as Colombia or Afghanistan, while the southbound flow of weapons into Mexico -- where private gun ownership is illegal -- has been a flashpoint as Mexico's death toll from drug-related violence has topped 15,000.
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In Mexico City in April, Obama pledged to push the Senate to ratify an inter-American arms-trafficking treaty but backed away from a campaign promise to reinstate a ban on assault weapons that Congress let expire in 2004. Obama said that it would be too difficult politically to enact new gun legislation soon and that enforcing existing measures would have a more immediate effect.

Mexican officials want a ban, saying that 90 percent of guns seized in drug crimes in Mexico and submitted for tracing to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives originate in the United States, including most assault rifles.

Bonner, who led U.S. drug enforcement and customs agencies under Republican administrations from 1990 to 1993 and from 2002 to 2005, said the task force sought to identify bold steps for each side. Bonner took over the panel from Alan D. Bersin, whom Obama has nominated to lead U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Task force co-chairman Andres Rozental, former deputy foreign minister of Mexico, said Mexico should realign and strengthen 16 agencies that share border responsibilities to combat corruption and improve coordination with the DHS, as Canada did after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Mexico has taken some steps, including hiring 1,400 new customs agents.

Mexico is the third-largest U.S. trading partner and the No. 2 destination for U.S. exports, he noted. The panel recommended adding private border crossings that collect tolls and prioritizing jointly planned improvements based on economic benefit.

If the United States legalizes most of its illegal immigrants and allows for a flexible flow of legal workers, Mexico should stop illegal immigration from its side of the border, the panel said.

 

[ShadeWPI]

Mexican officials want a ban, saying that 90 percent of guns seized in drug crimes in Mexico and submitted for tracing to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives originate in the United States, including most assault rifles.

Interesting twist of the facts.

1) 90% of tracable firearms submitted to the BATFE for tracing where traced to US sources
2) Roughly half of the submitted firearms could not be traced (no records)
3) Less than 20% of siezed firearms were submitted for tracing because only weapons which "appeared" to be US sourced were traced.
4) An undisclosed number of traced weapons were traced to government sales by the US government to the Mexican government.

5) The single most common siezed weapon in Mexico are AK-47s primarily sourced from Argentina and China.

 

[Bob J]

I smell a political agenda.....

 

[Admin]

[bs1].

 

[bfm]

Mexico is the third-largest U.S. trading partner and the No. 2 destination for U.S. exports, he noted.

Who is number 1 and how many of our assualt rifles are they buying?

 

[Eye5600]

Here's a deal: they stop drugs going north, and we'll stop guns going south. When the dollar value of northbound drugs drops to the dollar value of southbound guns, then we can talk.

Everyone seems to think that it would be dandy if the USA solved their problems, and that includes Mexico, Afghanistan, several players in the mid-East, etc, etc, etc.

 

[Speedway]

~20% are traceable because the other 80% do not originate in the US.

 

[fubar]

If we did have a new era of co-operation on the border then things would settle down really fast. They just need to " cut in " the US Law enforcement on all the drug money the Mexican Gov is making on smuggling.

And if they can disarm those pesky Law n Order type citizens then they won't be much trouble either.

I mean really , if you want an assault rifle all you need to do is join a drug cartel.

 

[center442]

In Mexico City in April, Obama pledged to push the Senate to ratify an inter-American arms-trafficking treaty but backed away from a campaign promise to reinstate a ban on assault weapons that Congress let expire in 2004. Obama said that it would be too difficult politically to enact new gun legislation soon and that enforcing existing measures would have a more immediate effect.

Mexican officials want a ban, saying that 90 percent of guns seized in drug crimes in Mexico and submitted for tracing to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives originate in the United States, including most assault rifles.

Last time I looked, the US was a sovereign nation, as is Mexico. Since we are neighbors, at least geographically, I don't mind them asking us nicely for our assistance in combating their crime problem.

When they start demanding that we surrender our rights, in our country, to solve their problems, they can get bent.

Mexico and the "bi-national task force" are welcome to kiss my old, hairy, wrinkled butt. Repeatedly. With great enthusiam.

 

[KMaurer]

I hear they've been having a real rash of drive-by bayonetings down there. Somebody's just got to do something about it!

Ken

 

[mikem317]

 

[EddieCoyle]

Interesting twist of the facts.

1) 90% of tracable firearms submitted to the BATFE for tracing where traced to US sources
2) Roughly half of the submitted firearms could not be traced (no records)
3) Less than 20% of siezed firearms were submitted for tracing because only weapons which "appeared" to be US sourced were traced.
4) An undisclosed number of traced weapons were traced to government sales by the US government to the Mexican government.

Let's do the math. We'll start with 100 guns:

Less than 20% were submitted - (We're down to less than 20)
Half of the submitted firearms couldn't be traced (We're down to less than 10)
90% of the remaining 10 were traced to the US, some/most of which were military arms sent to the Mexican government and later stolen.


Yeah, a new assault weapons ban might knock that 9 down too 8.99999999.

 

[Pete85]

Seal the border. We solve all the problems that way.
1. No firearms going south to Mexico. More guns for all of us to buy.
2. No illegal drugs coming north from Mexico.
3. No illegal immigrants coming north from Mexico.

Solve three major problems with one little piece of legislation. Damn...I should run for public office. While we're at it, let's lower the drinking age in the U.S. to 18. That way we don't send our kids there for spring break.

 

[Jedhed]

Los Angeles-based Pacific Council on International Policy and the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations titled, "Rethinking the U.S.-Mexico Border."

The part above is a great idea! Unfortunately, I think the ideas they come up will be the opposite of mine...

The part below might work better...

[STRIKE]Los Angeles-based Pacific [/STRIKE] The NES Council on International Policy and the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations titled, "Rethinking the U.S.-Mexico Border."

 

[ShadeWPI]

EC,

That's exactly the point.

The "90%" number has been quoted over and over and over again. It is "accurate" if you provide the correct information to back it up. Fox News looked into the "90%" number and found that the number of weapons submitted to the FBI for tracing represented only 17% of the number of weapons the Mexican government reported siezing from drug cartels.

The FBI only released 3 numbers to Fox News. The number of total submissions from the Mexican Government, the number of successful traces and the number of traces which lead to US sources. The 90% number that's quoted over and over again is the number of successful traces which lead to US sources.

Now, ask yourself, how much data does the FBI keep to trace firearms to non-US sources? The number is intentional BS used as propaganda by the Anti-Gun crowd to turn a Mexican violance problem into a US gun control issue. It's to tie US gun sales to the pictures of bleeding children in Mexican streets.

 

[Gammon]

We can easily stop the flow of weapons to the criminals of Mexico. All we have to do is stop selling weapons to the Mexican government. This will dry up the supply of weapons that the army is selling on the black market.

Cooperating with the Mexican government is like going to Dr. Jack Kervorkian for heart surgery, or swimming with an anchor, no good will come of it. Unfortunately, our Obama in Chief will accept full responsibility for Mexico's self induced problems and try to punish us as a solution.

 

[Garys]

We can easily stop the flow of weapons to the criminals of Mexico. All we have to do is stop selling weapons to the Mexican government. This will dry up the supply of weapons that the army is selling on the black market.

Cooperating with the Mexican government is like going to Dr. Jack Kervorkian for heart surgery, or swimming with an anchor, no good will come of it. Unfortunately, our Obama in Chief will accept full responsibility for Mexico's self induced problems and try to punish us as a solution.

Yep. Most of the automatic weapons the cartels have come from deserters from the Mexican military. Which actually makes the US Government complicit in the largest ring of straw purchases on the planet. Stop all military aid to Mexico and we go a long way to cutting off the flow of weapons.

A binational task force on U.S.-Mexico border issues will call Friday on the Obama administration and Congress to reinstate an expired ban on assault weapons and for Mexico to overhaul its frontier police and customs agencies to mirror the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

How about this? Mexico implements non corrupt police, customs, and immigration services first, then we think about some sort of assault weapons ban. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the first part, it wouldnt' be good for your health. Mexico, going back to when it was a Spanish territory, has a long history of corrupt public officials. It's deeply ingrained at all levels of society.

 

[RI_John]

I really believe the way to combat these lies is to just INUNDATE every possible news source, forums of all kinds, online, print media, everywhere, non-stop, 24-7 countering the 90% figure. But don't counter it by stating it's not true, state the true number, 17% and act as if the 90% wasn't even mentioned.

So if an article says "90% of all firearms used in Mexican crimes were traced to the United States", simply counter with-

"While it's troubling that up to 17% of firearms that criminal gangs in Mexico use against other criminal gangs in Mexico were illegally obtained from the United States, Mexico might want to first concentrate on where the vast majority, 83%, of the weapons originated from. Those 83% of weapons that criminals in Mexico are using to murder other criminals in Mexico include all of the fully automatic weapons confiscated. Fully automatic weapons, aka machine guns, are the preferred weapons of Mexican criminals, and none, not one, of those guns has been acquired from any U.S. gun shop."

Just repeat something like that again and again and again, until it starts to take root like the bogus 90% statistic has, also emphasizing that the majority of the crimes/murders in Mexico are gang members killing each other. And the great thing about the above quote/facts is that they are TRUE and not a LIE. Truth can win if enough people hear it.

 

[Titan]

We on the verge of having a nation in which our welfare is determined by a Socialist adiminstration, and the mood swings of the 'global COMMUNITY'.

That is of course unless these SOBs are roundly defeated in Congress and at the polls by an enraged citizenry.

There is never a place in a Socialist system for an armed citizenry.

.

 

[K-DUB]

This sh*t gets better & better every day. Who gives a rats ass what the Mexicans think...just keep them & ALL OTHER ILLEGALS out of my country.

 

[swampy]

.




.

Mexican officials want a ban, saying that 90 percent of guns seized in drug crimes in Mexico and submitted for tracing to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives originate in the United States, including most assault rifles.

Why don't they send all those guns back and we can adopt them as refugees. I promise I will give one or more of those guns a good home where it can live out it's life in a safe and happy environment.

 

[theGringo]

I dunno. I always find those folks mighty hospitible.

 

[cekim]

Here's what I have to say to Mexico and the UN:

 

[Coyote33]

Ridiculous.