Tag Archives: Mexico

Courts, Elsewhere, Law

Remember “Fast and Furious?”

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For those with short memories, “Fast and Furious,” aka Project Gunwalker, was an ATF plot to allow unlawful straw purchases of firearms from US gun shops, in order to — equally unlawful — traffick them to criminals in Mexico. Supposedly the project was ended when the ATF super-pros “lost track” of most of the firearms. The reality is that they had no intention of “tracking” them in the first place, as the real political plan was to have more US weapons — remember, purchased from ordinary gun stores — turn up in Mexican crime in order to “justify” more gun control here.

Mexican officials were not amused.

Neither was I.

Up until now, the only prosecution at all related to Gunwalker was that of the killers of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, who was murdered using one of the Gunwalker firearms. Today, I learned that we are finally seeing trafficking prosecutions.

In Mexico.

Mexico charges 7 in ‘Fast and Furious’ weapons trafficking, including top officials
Mexican prosecutors said Sunday they have charged seven people, including former top officials, in the “Fast and Furious” weapons trafficking scandal.

The December 2010 murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry exposed the bungled “Fast and Furious” investigation, in which agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed criminals to buy guns with the intention of tracking the weapons.

But the agency lost most of the guns, including two that were found at the scene of Terry’s death in southern Arizona. The U.S. government has heavily pursued prosecution of the men involved in the killing.

Since they are including officials in this, and are looking for at least one extradition from the US, one can only hope the scope of their prosecution will expand to include some American officials. I’m looking at you, Holder.

Mexicans; still doing the jobs Americans won’t.

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gun control

Mexican Gunrunners Trafficking US Guns

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No, not the NGO cartels. The Mexican army.

REPORT: Mexican Army Loses 30% of Weapons Purchased from U.S.
Mexico’s Army (SEDENA) is losing approximately 30 percent of weapons purchased from the U.S., a report from Mexican journalist Carlos Loret De Mola revealed. The report comes as Mexico’s federal government litigates against firearm manufacturers in a U.S. court, blaming them for the raging cartel violence.

Those missing weapons are showing up in crime scenes. Mexico’s military has also allegedly misplaced weapons bought from Germany, Australia, Italy, Romania, Spain, and Belgium.

In Mexico, the Army is the only entity that can purchase weapons from other countries. Further, all weapons bought by federal, state, and local law enforcement, as well as private citizens, are sold by SEDENA.

“Losing.” Does that include Los Zetas army members deserting with army gear? Blackmarket sales? 30% of the thousands of weapons the Mexican army buys from the US every year is a pretty big number.

Keep this in mind when you hear claims that 70% of the crime guns in Mexico are traced back to the US*, with the unsubstantiated implication that freelance traffickers are getting them from retail gun stores. One would hard-pressed to find affordable — transferrable, yet cheaper than what SEDENA pays for approved bulk purchases — assault rifles, heavy machine guns, or grenade launchers in retail gun stores.

Those links suggest that full-auto AK-47s are becoming the preferred cartel assault rifle. I think they can find other places where such are more readily available, and a heck of a lot cheaper, than American gun shops.

* It’s also worth noting that figure was really only @70% of recovered guns that the Mexican thought came from the US and were even worth trying to trace. Maybe they should just run those serial numbers against their own SEDENA purchase lists.

 

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authoritarian swine, Courts, gun control, Law

Mexico May Have Chosen Poorly

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This should be interesting.

Mexico sues US gun manufacturers over arms trafficking toll
The Mexican government sued United States gun manufacturers and distributors Wednesday in U.S. federal court, arguing that their negligent and illegal commercial practices have unleashed tremendous bloodshed in Mexico.

The unusual lawsuit was filed in U.S. federal court in Boston. Among those being sued are some of the biggest names in guns, including: Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc.; Barret Firearms Manufacturing, Inc.; Beretta U.S.A. Corp.; Colt’s Manufacturing Company LLC, and Glock Inc. Another defendant is Interstate Arms, a Boston-area wholesaler that sells guns from all but one of the named manufacturers to dealers around the U.S.

It appears some of those outfits being sued are suppliers for the Mexican army and police. I suggest those manufacturers go all Ronnie Barrett, and stop selling or servicing weapons for Mexico. Barrett itself may be inclined to do so since Mexico uses their .50 BMG platform.

I think Mexico’s time and money would be better spent at home, cracking down on cartels like Los Zetas, which has been armed and equipped — not to mention staffed — by the Mexican army;they are after the smugglers and unlawful users of the weapons. Hey, Mexico could sue their army for trafficking guns to cartels.

The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act should put a stop to this suit but as that report notes, activist judges have begun gutting it. This suit was filed in federal court in Boston, so I don’t expect good things.

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gun control, gun grabbers

By the Numbers

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In recent years, victim disarmament advocates have been making more use of international firearms homicide rate comparisons. The United Kingdom used to be their go-to example, but that’s largely fallen by the wayside since, not only has its crime rate been growing as America’s has dropped, but they were outed for faking their low numbers.

These days, the line is, “The United States has the highest firearms murder rate of any developed nation,” along with assorted variations on the theme. Typically, they also throw in the fact that we have far more guns per person than any other country (I see that as a point of pride). When they want a specific example, they point to Australia and its post-Port Arthur confiscation and proclaim, “Australia hasn’t had a mass shooting since,” carefully ignoring at least four mass shootings (using the anti-rights Gun Violence Archive’s definition of 4+ people shot, not counting the shooter). And then there’s the low confiscation compliance rate which has caused them to hold multiple “amnesties.”

Now, it’s true that Australia’s firearm-related homicide rate is only 0.16/100K, compared to the United States at 3.60/100K. But we’re allegedly talking about developed nations.

The United States is ranked first in the world by Gross Domestic Product. Australia comes in at number 13. Australia’s GDP is roughly one-fifteenth of the United States, less than 7% of ours. Peaceful Sweden is another country that the gun people controllers like to point to, with its 0.19/100K firearm homicide rate. But we’re talking economics, too. Sweden’s GDP ranks 23rd, well behind even Australia, and is just one thirty-sixth that of the US.

Instead, let’s try a country quite close by which is closer to Australia’s GDP than Sweden’s.

Our southern neighbor Mexico ranks 15th, with a GDP 83% of Australia’s. For that matter, there’s Brazil in the #9 slot. If Sweden is economically developed surely Brazil counts. But the gun grabbers don’t like to talk about them for some reason.

Said reason being:

Firearms-related homicide rates per 100K

Australia (13) 0.16
Sweden (23) 0.19
United States (1) 3.60
Mexico (15) 6.34
Brazil (9) 19.99

At this, the controllers are screeching that GDP is meaningless, that GDP per capita is the indicator of development. Well, no; that’s more an indicator of average wealth than development. And by per capita GDP Mexico does trail the US’s #7 ranking at #70. I think that says more about wealth distribution than development.

With Chinese made goods filling most department stores, I think we can agree that China is an industrially developed nation. They are producing that stuff we’re importing.

So is Mexico. Let’s look at our imports from various countries. We get $14.3 billion worth of vehicles from China. But we get $75.2 billion worth of vehicles from Mexico. That’s more than than we import from Japan, Korea, Germany, or any other country.

For total imports, Mexico is our second largest provider, behind China and ahead of Canada.

Yes, they’re developed. And with 15 guns per 100 people they have a firearms homicide rate almost double that of the US with 101 guns per hundred people. Brazil, with a mere 8 guns per 100 people, still manages a firearms homicide rate 5.5 times ours.

If guns and gun ownership were the problem, the United States would have depopulated itself decades ago.

Louisiana ranks 13th in gun ownership, but #1 in murder rate. Maryland is 43rd in gun ownership, but #5 in murder rate. Baltimore alone has a murder rate of 55.4/100K (and note that Maryland has strong gun control laws).

It isn’t the guns or the honest owners.

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