Guns and Mexico Again

The Houston Chronicle ran an article recently that noted that firearms continue to travel south of the border. While the article is mostly fair and level on the reporting, there are a few notable points worth mentioning.

First, ATF officers have tried to trace back firearms found in Mexico to their American owners, and surprise one person was “a small-town Texas policeman who bought a few military-style rifles, left them in his car and – on the same night – forgot to lock a door.” The article goes on to mention that no police report was filed and the officer didn’t explain why he went to Mexico at all. This is again worth mentioning because it is another case where law enforcement may – we’re say may because it wasn’t confirmed (yet) – have supplied guns to criminals. So it again begs the question how we could ever feel safe if in a society where only law enforcement was supposed to have guns? Wouldn’t some bad cops supply bad guys with guns?

Second, this passage is worth a read:

“As it is largely illegal to own firearms in Mexico, and the United States has top quality guns readily available, cartels have organized cells that recruit U.S. citizens with clean criminal backgrounds to try to purchase weapons without setting off red flags.”

Note that “it is largely illegal to own firearms in Mexico.” Since this site has launched we’ve found that guns are hard to obtain in many places yet criminals obtain them. Wouldn’t the same thing happen in the United States? That’s a true that the mainstream media typically avoids reporting about, and one that should be a major concern.