An Outpost of Truth at the LA Times

Looks like the LA Times Sports Writer, Pete Thomas, is busy telling the truth about Assault Weapons:

Interestingly, the 1994 ban applied to semiautomatic weapons, which automatically reload but fire only one round per squeeze of a trigger. Ownership of fully automatic weapons, such as machine guns, has been heavily regulated since 1934.

But such points are moot. Banning the sale of either type of weapon in the U.S. probably would do no good.

As long as the Mexican cartels can make billions selling drugs across the border, they’ll continue to line up like salmon at the mouth of a stream — in this case border towns beneath California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas — and do what it takes to push their product.

You simply aren’t going to disarm drug cartels, and Mr. Thomas is eactly right that they will find some way to get their guns, just as they do grenades, rockets, and various other heavy weaponry that’s most definitely not coming from the United States, as mentioned in this CBS News story:

“Half of what we seize, 55 percent are assault rifles. And this is what gives these groups this intimidation power. Over 17,000 assault rifles, throughout the last two years. Two thousand and 200 grenades, missile and rocket launchers. Fifty caliber sniper rifles,” the attorney general explained.

It might surprise you to learn where all these guns are coming from. It turns out 90 percent of them are purchased in the US.

“The Second Amendment was never designed to arm criminal groups, and especially not foreign criminal groups as it is today,” Medina-Mora said.

Asked if he blames the U.S. for not doing more to stop this flow, he told Cooper, “We believe that much more needs to be done. We need a much more committed effort from the U.S.”

Has Mr. Medina-Mora, the Attorney General of Mexico, wondered why these drug turf battles haven’t, in fact, spilled over the border?  There is plenty of territory along the US border that are relatively unprotected by law enforcement.

Maybe because Texans, New Mexicans and Arizonans are also well armed and will shoot back.  The Second Amendment is not about arming criminals, it’s about recognizing that people have a right to the same tools criminals use to ply their trade to defend themselves from the same.  Maybe if Mexico took their Second Amendment a little more seriously, the drug gangs wouldn’t find a population so ripe for terrorizing.

7 thoughts on “An Outpost of Truth at the LA Times”

  1. It might surprise you to learn where all these guns are coming from. It turns out 90 percent of them are purchased in the US.

    My question deals with the above sentence. It seems to me that Mexican drug lords have a lot of money. Why are they buying semi-autos when they can afford autos? Seems to me also that the missile, rocket launchers are not available to you and me.

    The Washington id10ts are going for the wrong results of fighting this issue they are using this Mexican situation as an excuse to impose more gun laws.

  2. I would REALLY like to see something even *approaching* hard data with regard to this “90%” figure that’s being bandied about.

    If I had to guess (and… I do) I would say that this figure is made up – fabricated from whole cloth.

  3. I suspect that the 90% number might be correct even for grenades and rocket launchers. They just make a brief stop in the hands of the Mexican Army.

  4. Hey, why don’t we cut off their supply of drugs,too, while we’re at it!

    We could, like, make drugs completely illegal, except for hospitals and pharmacies, and throw people in prison for breaking the law! That’d stop ’em!

  5. The whole premise is a lie. The majority of weapons used by the mexican cartels come from the mexican army. The majority of those not from the army come from central america. Panama is the fourth or fifth largest arms market in the world.

    Of course, that doesn’t sound as good to the politicians.

  6. Chris,
    With much of those arms originally having been in the form of US military aid, ironically. Technically “from the US” but they’re leaving out a few key steps in the chain of ownership…

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