Mr. Diehl writes:

“…in Mexico’s war, the United States also plays the role of supplier to the enemy — and it does that far more efficiently. At a discussion sponsored by the think tank Third Way in Washington last week, Mexican Ambassador Arturo Sarukhán pointed out that the vast majority of guns and money flowing to the cartels come from the United States, including from 7,000 federally licensed gun stores along the border in Texas and Arizona. Eighty percent of the 75,000 guns seized by the Calderón government over three years came from the United States.”

OK, so he’s quoting figures that came from an independent group, and quotes Mexican Ambassador Arturo Sarukhán, but the simple truth is that this number is erroneous. It is simply not true that 80 percent of the guns seized came from the United States, and if Mr. Diehl had bothered to read the rival paper in Washington he’d know this. The Washington Times set the record straight this past May:

“(The) claim that 80 percent of guns used in Mexican crimes come from the United States is completely false. Most weapons seized in Mexico have traceable serial numbers that show they come from countries other than the United States. The 80 percent number reflects how many guns sent to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for tracing end up being from America. Most weapons seized in Mexico aren’t transferred to U.S. authorities, so that figure is meaningless for calculating overall totals.”

But beyond this not so simple mistake, it is frustrating to see that Mr. Diehl basically is calling for America do more to help the Mexican government, when Mexico has done little to stop the flow of illegal immigrants to America, or stop the flow of drugs to our country. Maybe when Mexico steps up and stops blaming the United States for its problems the time will come for us to actually step up and help.

Voice of America offered a choice quote from Matt Bennett, vice president of Third Way, a self-described moderate think tank:

“It is not just a Mexican problem. Guns and money are flowing from the United States south and fueling this problem and drugs are traveling north.”

Actually we see that the problem is that drugs are flowing north, and whether it is hardcore addicts or just the occasional recreational user, they’re the criminals who are in turn sending the cash back to Mexico. There remains little evidence that the United States is supplying massive amounts of firearms to the cartels. This week’s news about a 19-year-old who was caught with half a dozen weapons should be proof of that fact. The media notes this incident as proof that American guns are heading to the near war zone, but the truth isn’t so obvious.

First, you don’t supply guns in great numbers by having a few individuals drive across with half a dozen guns. For this type of conflict you need dozens, or hundreds of guns. Second, it isn’t clear where those illegal guns had come from, notably as they were described as “machine guns,” which aren’t exactly the sort of item you pick up at the average gun shop.

But back to our original point, this is an issue of criminals. Criminals selling drugs, criminals using drugs, and criminals shooting each other to control the drug trade. Unfortunately the word “guns” gets involved and that is something that can affect the law-abiding gun owners. Ironic isn’t it?

“…five automatic guns, two pistols, numerous rounds of ammunition, 23 loaded magazines, 10 rifle slings and other gun accessories.”

The San Diego Crime Examiner, which is part of Examiner.com included a bit more information, noting that U.S. Customs and Border Protection found several weapons. The site noted:

“The weapons included three P90 standard machine guns, a M-4 machine gun, and one AK 47 machine gun, the CBP said. The weapons stash also included a 5.7 semi-automatic handgun and a 10 mm Colt semi-automatic.”

No doubt some in the mainstream media, as well as numerous politicians will try to spin this into something it is not. First, it is not clear if the weapons are in fact “automatic,” which is a point that needs to be crystal clear. Several sources state the weapons to be “machine guns,” but as many firearm enthusiasts know only the P90 could rightfully be called a “machine gun.” The M-4 is a carbine, based on the M-16 assault rifle/AR-15 semi-automatic rifle; while the AK-47 is simply an assault rifle/semi-automatic rifle.

And here too the wording is the key. The “P90 standard machine gun” is a Belgian made submachine gun, which is used by numerous military, paramilitary and police units around the word. The PS90 is the semi-automatic commercial version. So the key is whether these were in fact “fully automatic” weapons, which wouldn’t be something you could buy at just any gun show. The commercial version, the PS90, also retails for $1800 or more, and it isn’t a gun that is typically stocked at many gun shows.

In other words there is much more to this story than just a 19-year-old who went north of the border to buy a few guns. This is one we’ll be watching very closely.

According to the report this included 11 weapons in total. The story noted that the weapons were in a crate with a false bottom:

“The cache contained an AK-47, a rifle with a 50-round drum, five 9 mm pistols and four other handguns, according to court records.”

What is interesting is that Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Sanner was quoted as saying the secret compartment was “pretty clearly the wrong way to bring firearms back to the United States.” In fact, we can’t agree more… but to add that special permits are required for the importation of guns! So it comes as a shock that Bindeman has plead guity to one felony count of entry goods by means of false statements! The news posted added this choice bit too:

“With the plea, Bindeman, a sergeant in the Army National Guard, admitted that while he was deployed in Iraq, he hid the guns in the crate and shipped them from Iraq to the Readiness Center in Cambridge Springs.

“Why he shipped the guns and what he intended to do with them was not explained at the hearing.”

We’ll be watching closely to see what fines or penalties Bindeman faces, but this clearly is another example of how illegal guns do come into this country.

“During his address to a joint-session of Congress, Calderon urged lawmakers to reinstate the assault weapon ban and argued that the rise in gun violence seen in Mexico began when the ban was lifted in 2004, according to Reuters.”

Can we have another fact check on the rise of violence? “According to Reuters” you say, how about another source? But then Harwood, offers this choice quote from Mexican President Felipe Calderon:

“We have seized 75,000 guns and assault weapons in Mexico over the last three years. More than 80 percent of those we have been able to trace came from the United States.”

Ah, no you don’t actually Felipe. So this suddenly seems less like an analyst report and more like a highly biased news story. But then we did some digging, and it seems that Matthew Harwood is a liberal reporter, who pens for The Huffington Post, which included his bio:

“Matthew Harwood is a journalist in Washington, DC, and a frequent contributor to the Guardian’s Comment is Free. His writing has appeared in The Washington Monthly and Progress Magazine (U.K.) as well as online at CommonDreams and Alternet.”

So it is no surprise that Harwood futher offers choice quotes from other anti-gun zealots, such as Dr. David Shirk, Director of the Trans-Border Insitute at the University of California, San Diego:

“Most Americans don’t want to have those kinds of weapons in the hands of Mexican drug traffickers, kids in the schools like Columbine, but there’s a very powerful gun lobby that conflates reasonable Second Amendment gun rights… with these high-powered and more dangerous weapons that even many police associations in the United States feel should not be on the streets.”

Spoken like a true anti-gun liberal. Don’t you love it when an anti-gun reporter quotes an anti-gun professor and offers an opinion on what “most Americans don’t want.” What I don’t want is to read biased stories that are passed off as analyst reports.

“Guns may be making their way into the hands of cartel members and violence may be increasing on the Texas-Mexico border, but that is not stopping Texas lawmakers from keeping guns accessible.”

While the article does offer commentary from both sides, it comes out swinging in a way that clearly makes the agenda known from the first salvo.

“Calderon said that 75,000 guns had been seized in Mexico in three years and 80 percent of those that could be traced came from the U.S.”

The problem, as we’ve long reported is that this number is only part of the story. Those AK-47s aren’t exactly American, and more importantly, as with many guns seized in Mexico most aren’t in fact traced back to the United States at all. So the paper is correct in what Calderon said, but it failed to address the true facts. Biased reporting, or just sloppy? You be the judge.

“Mexico has long complained that many of the weapons used by drug smugglers at war with each other and with security forces come from the United States.”

While all this is factually true, we find it interesting that the news organization failed to note that the United States doesn’t in fact produce AK-47s.

“The inside guts of these guns are essentially the same as deer-hunting rifles — some people just like to own these ‘military style’ weapons because of the way they look on the outside. The firing mechanisms in semiautomatics and machine guns are completely different. To turn it into a military AK-47, the entire firing mechanism of a semiautomatic gun has to be gutted and replaced.”

Lott also takes aim at another statement that Calderon made that the United States could face the same violence as our neighbor to the south if we don’t crack down on guns, and the author noted:

“There is only one problem: American and Mexican murder rates fell between the ban and the latest official data in 2008.”

Again, we must now hope that the populace and media listen to what Lott is saying and make sure that Calderon’s lies continue to be reported on, so that liberal anti-gun zealots don’t actually try to spread his message.

“Mr. Calderon repeated a several-year-old contention that something like 80 percent of the arms used by Mexican drug warriors have been traced to the United States. The claim was a lie when his government first asserted it, and repeating it before our Congress doesn’t make it true.”

The problem is that too often when politicians tell a lie, it becomes the truth. It is bad enough when they believe their own lies, but let’s hope the public doesn’t buy it too.