Newsweek, the defunct print magazine, reports that Mexican drug and crime cartels prefer American-made guns to use against their rivals and innocent Mexican civilians. In fact, according to Newsweek, cartel criminals view American guns as status symbols because, well, they work.
Of course, that’s not primary the message Newsweek and the mainstream media (not to mention Mexican officials) want readers to take away from their report.
No, they published this piece in an effort to get the US Congress to tighten America’s gun control laws, ostensibly to stop the alleged flow of guns to Mexico. Never mind that the majority of the cartels’ armament needs are met by “leaks” of official weaponry bought by the Mexican military.
Of course, these same quoted Mexican officials made no mention of changing their own to laws to allow the little people to own some cold steel with which they could protect themselves and their families from corrupt federales and cartel predators.
Given the record number of murders there last year – almost 36,000 – Mexicans could certainly use some self-defense tools. At the same time, Mexico remains a cautionary preview of what might happen in America if we adopted Mexican-style gun control.
Here’s the story via ATT:
American and Mexican law enforcement officials say nearly all of the gun violence in Mexico is fueled by the illicit import and sale of U.S. firearms.
The underground trade of weapons to Mexico is worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually—with American guns used to kill tens of thousands of Mexicans each year.
In addition to weapons from the States working better, Mexico cartels view firearms as status symbols, retired DEA agent Jack Riley told The San Diego Union-Tribune: “It is really important to these criminal organizations, who stay in business by the threat of violence and through the use of violence; and the tools that they prefer to do that with are American-made guns.”
Tijuana’s Director of Public Safety, Marco Antonio Sotomayor, says most of the guns flowing into his city come from north of the border.
“There’s no way for people to buy guns like these in Mexico. They’re American-made guns,” Sotomayor told the Union-Tribune. “We know they’re being illegally trafficked through California into Tijuana.”
In 2018, the homicide rate in Mexico hit a record high of 35,964, spiking 12 percent from the year before, according to the country’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography. Of those murders, at least 20,005 were carried out with guns.
Dear Mexico: clean up your own house before telling us how to take care of ours.
By the way, where were these officials when the Obama administration was running guns into Mexico as part of Operation Fast and Furious?
Enough-time for real action. Pass a domestic terrorism bill. Ban assault weapons, high capacity magazines, body armor, silencers. Pass universal background checks, end loopholes: gunshow and Charleston. Pass red flag laws. We can reduce the carnage if pols have the guts to act
— Eric Holder (@EricHolder) August 5, 2019