CBS News Loose With Facts on Gun Story, Cites 90 Percent Number Again
In a story posted on its Web site titled “Gun Laws Loosen in States, Even as Gun Policy Changes Little Under Obama,” writer Stephanie Condon is a little “loose” with the facts. The article includes this passage:
“‘This war is being waged with guns purchased not here, but in the United States,’ Mr. Obama said in Mexico City in April, 2009. ‘More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States, many from gun shops that line our shared border.’
“The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said the administration’s plans to help Mexico fight drug cartels would be inadequate without new gun restrictions, but the administration’s call to reinstitute the Assault Weapons Ban went nowhere. The administration has also failed to close the gun show loophole.”
The problem with this statement is that the 90 percent number, as we’ve reported on for nearly a year, is that it is wrong. 90 percent of guns recovered in Mexico do NOT come from the United States. This story clearly has the typical mainstream media liberal agenda to present a message without presenting all the facts.
Spanish Language eTrace Soon Available
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) announced that it will soon be testing a Spanish language version of eTrace, the digital system that U.S. police use to trace firearms. Police in Latin America will use the system to hunt down crime suspects and weapons traffickers. Read more
International Media Believes U.S. Fueling Illegal Arms Trade
Turn on the news of conflicts around the world and you’re likely to see the Soviet designed AK-47 time and time again. But surprisingly the United States, not the former Soviet Union, now gets the lion’s share of the blame for supplying the world with illegal firearms.
In an editorial posted by Jamaica Gleaner News on recent violence in Haiti the writers called out the United States for supplying guns to Mexican cartels. Fortunately, at least, the article didn’t see the United States in this alone:
Jamaica and her CARICOM partners should invite gun manufacturing countries such as the United States, China and Russia to a summit on small arms
This is an interesting opinion, but would Russia care – should Russia even care – about the weapons that were sold during the Cold War by the former Soviet Union? And what would a summit really mean?
WaPo Editorial Provides False Facts: Cites 90% Figure Again
An editorial doesn’t need to be unbiased, but it shouldn’t try to use information that has been proven false to make its point. In this weekend’s Washington Post editorial titled “Massacre in Mexico,” the paper cites this fact:
“Some 90 percent of the guns seized from operations against organized crime in Mexico come from the United States.”
As we have reported throughout 2009, this is false. Some 90 percent of guns seized in Mexico do NOT come from the United States. Let’s hope the media does a better job of reporting on these facts in 2010.
Gun Smuggling Called Huge Challenge
According to KSWT TV, the Arizona attorney general says that the U.S. could do a better job of stopping the flow of guns to Mexico, but we’ll ask a couple of questions.
First, how important really are American firearms to the Mexican cartels? Is there any proof that if America were to step up our efforts that the crime in Mexico would fall? Aren’t many of the guns actually from their own military? And about the flow of Chinese made firearms to Mexico? The news organization merely says, “many guns used by drug cartels in gun-restrictive Mexico are from the U.S.” But what percentage does “many” mean? The long reported number was wrong. In fact, it has been proven that less than 20 percent of firearms are from America – so how much good could our efforts do? Would it even reduce the crime by 20 percent? Probably not.
Second, what is Mexico going to do about the flow of drugs to America? That’s an issue that is seldom brought up when these stories are mentioned. Maybe we should work with Mexico to reduce the crime, and the gun issue will resolve itself.
Bi-National Panel Calls for “Ban” on Automatic Weapons
A bi-national panel of scholars and former – note the word former – government officials is calling for an American crackdown on firearms and urging the government to try to clamp down on the export of illegal guns and cash to Mexico. This brain trust also says Mexico needs “in turn must do more to stop to flow of illegal drugs and immigrants to the United States,” according to The Houston Chronicle. The paper further reports that the panel suggests the creation of unified and effective border police force.
Wait a second, isn’t part of the latter problem – that of illegal drugs and immigrants – is because of the corruption within the Mexican police, so why should we believe for even a second that a unified police force could even be trustworthy? We can’t.
But for this group of individuals to suggest we “reimpose” the ban on automatic weapons is silly. Silly, because automatic weapons are already extremely difficult to obtain legally in the United States. So either the paper or the report from this panel misunderstood automatic weapons with “assault weapons,” which were banned under President Clinton. And not to sound snide, but I think the United States should deal with the flow of the illegal drugs and illegal immigrants into this country and work to stop it. Let Mexico stop its own drug wars. When the drug pipeline closes, so will their gun problem.
Seizures Up at Border: AP Highlights Only Mexico’s Plight
Some interesting spin on the situation in the border lands this week. The Associated Press is noting that the seizures of cash and guns are up, and includes this passage:
“U.S. authorities on Tuesday reported a spike in seizures of guns and cash along the Mexican border since they began assigning more agents to stem the flow of southbound contraband.”
However, The San Diego Union Tribune gives a slightly different view of the picture, one that appears a little less biased. Notice that this story doesn’t paint it just as guns traveling to peaceful and hardworking Mexico (that part is a joke):
“Stepped-up enforcement efforts have led to more seizures of illegal drugs, guns and cash flowing back and forth across the US-Mexico”
We’d of course like to ask The Associated Press why they think guns were flowing south of the border? And why there is little mention of illegal drugs flowing north to American. Isn’t that the bigger issue? These guns are flowing to fight a gun war, and those drugs are flowing to our country. That’s the part we should be more concerned with frankly.
Further Proof That Straw Purchases Are Not Just an Easy Way For Criminal to Get Guns
The Las Vegas Sun is reporting that one man, Claudio Caesar Penunuri, has pleaded guilty to using straw buyers to purchase firearms. According to the paper Penunuri was trafficking guns to Mexico, but this just another example of how easy it is to catch straw buyers.
Yes, this remains an issue, but the mainstream media should take notice that criminals are being caught, and that law abiding citizens shouldn’t be held accountable just because of criminals such as Penunuri.
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. Read more
Summer Recap: Top Gun Stories
So much has happened over the past couple of months that we felt it was time to do a quick recap. Here are some topics that we’d like to close the book on for good.
Gun and Ammo Sales Have Increased – OLD NEWS. This story started in the dead of winter in January as President Obama took office, picked up steam in the spring thaw and simmered all summer. Enough already.
Gun Buybacks Take Guns Off the Street – TOTAL SPIN. Have any criminals actually handed in their guns? No, more likely widows sold off extremely valuable firearms for a gift card at Costco. Gun buybacks didn’t take guns off the street, but it made for a nice photo opportunity.
Guns at Town Hall Meetings – TOTAL SPIN. No one brought a gun into a hall where the president was speaking (unless you count the Secret Service agents). Worse, the mainstream media has repeatedly claimed that people showed up with “loaded guns.” Did any reporter check the magazines to confirm?
U.S. Guns Fuel Mexican Drug War – OLD NEWS/TOTAL SPIN. Every day hundreds of illegal immigrants cross the border. Every day hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal drugs cross the border. Is this reported? No, because it is considered old news. So why does the mainstream media continue to report on the U.S. guns used in Mexico’s drug wars? And when will the media report that the numbers and statistics are totally wrong and off base? Probably not soon enough.
