Forbes’ Larry Bell Sets Record Straight on Fast and Furious and 90 Percent Number

Few in the mainstream media bother doing enough digging, sourcing, fact checking or other confirming key numbers when it comes to guns in Mexico. That 90 percent – sometimes 80 percent or even a mere 70 percent – comes up time and time again.

As we’ve noted, imagine if that number was used for other industries, other events or other figures? Wouldn’t you expect the media to do its due diligence? Wouldn’t you expect someone to say, “this figure is wrong.” Well, fortunately there are guys like Larry Bell, writing for Forbes who did note those facts this week. Bell writes:

“…that 90% statistic is highly inflated because it “represents only the percentage of crime guns that have been submitted by Mexican officials and traced by U.S. officials.” Mexico actually recovers many more guns than it submits to the U.S. In December 2008, Mexican Attorney General Eduadro Medina Mora put the number of the country’s recovered crime weapons over the preceding two years at 29,000. Assuming that the total reported 10,347 guns seized and given to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) for tracing by Mexican authorities during 2007 and 2008 is an accurate number, only about 36% of all recovered crime weapons in Mexico came from U.S. sources.

But Bell notes a point that the U.S. media has also been silent on… namely, why would cartels go to the trouble of coming to America to buy most of their guns? These operations spend a fortune smuggling drugs around the world. Couldn’t they do better than merely heading to some gun shop near the border? Bell offers this thought:

“A friend of mine who owns a gun store in Houston raises an important question: ‘Why would anyone pay $500-$1,000 in the U.S. for semi-automatic rifles (legal civilian weapons that fire only one time with each trigger squeeze), when they can get original fully automatic military versions (that fire continuously when the trigger is held back) on the black market from other countries for $75-$100? They are readily available in Africa for $25. In fact nearly all U.S. firearms dealers had been voluntarily cooperating with ATF all along, routinely and immediately reporting suspicious multiple purchases.’”

So the question of course is why isn’t this reported more often? But that’s just one of many questions.

To recap, we see that the media doesn’t follow up to confirm that 90 percent number, and instead just accepts it. And yet few ever ask why the photos show grenades and grenade launchers, or bother noting that many of the weapons are fully automatic. The truth is that the media shows its anti-gun bias in its regular reporting.

Huff and Puff Story Includes Usual Misleading Information

In a piece titled, “AFT ‘Fast and Furious’ Operation: Inside The Controversial Gun Trafficking Investigation,” the Huffington Post offered some typical media misinformation:

“Also, gun shops in Texas, California, New Mexico and Arizona are now required to alert the ATF to purchases of two or more high-powered rifles in a five-day span to help agents spot suspicious buying patterns.”

This is not true. Gun shops in Texas, California, New Mexico and Arizona must report sales of firearms greater than a .22, so the use of “high-powered” is flat out wrong. This continues to be the biggest media lie – even surpassing that infamous 90 percent number that we’ve tracked for so long. But this reporting is not only misleading but could be confusing to those looking to buy intermediate powered rifles!

Most Illegal Guns in NYC From Out of State, Is That News?

NY1, the local cable news channel, in New York City reported, “ATF Working To Reduce Illegal Firearms In NYC,” but the story really lacked any significant new findings, noting:

“According to the ATF, last year alone more than 5,000 illegal firearms were found in New York City and 85 percent originated out of state.”

Is it really a surprise that so many of the illegal guns originated from out of state? New York City has few gun shops, as do the nearby counties. This is a point that is seldom (if ever) mentioned in these reports.

Christian Science Monitor Continues to Cite 90 Percent Number

Is it possible that some in the media just like a fact so much that they’ll continue to report on it, despite the “fact” that it isn’t even true? The latest example comes from The Christian Science Monitor, which notes the number of gun shops along “the border” with Mexico, but worse the outlet continues to spew that notorious 90 percent number, long after it has been disproved.

“The cartels hire people without criminal records to buy a handful of weapons at a time, from licensed dealers – there are 6,600 along the border alone – or private individuals at gun shows, and then drive them across the border. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and Explosives estimates that 90 percent of the traced firearmss [sic] recovered in Mexico originated in the US.”

First, what exactly is meant by along the border? It isn’t as if there are gun shops with signs that say, “last gun shop before you leave the U.S.A.” No, these just happen to be privately owned shops located in towns 100 or so miles within the border. When you factor in that there many reasonably sized cities near the border with Mexico, it is easy to understand that there are going to be gun shops. Should these businesses close because they happen to be too close to Mexico?

But worse, how can the CSM cite a number that even BATFE doesn’t support anymore. There has never been proof of this number, and on the contrary it has been essentially disproved, but that doesn’t seem to be stopping the mainstream media from quoting this figure.

Mexican President Puts Blame on U.S. Guns

Is Mexican President Felipe Calderon listing too much to the American mainstream media? It seems to be the case, and the MSM is playing along. According to Bloomberg via Business Week, Calderon says that American should work more closely to stop the sale of illegal drugs and weapons in both countries, and the article added:

“Calderon said that 10,000 gun shops operate in the U.S. near the border with Mexico and that 80 percent of weapons seized in Mexico in a sampling made a year and a half ago were illegally imported into Mexico from the U.S.”

We’d like to see some creditable fact checking on those numbers. First, last year it was widely debunked that 90 percent of guns used in Mexico came from the United States, so Calderon lowers the number to 80 percent and the MSM believes him? The country can barely police its border, deal with criminals and has an economy that could fairly be described as bordering on third-world and yet they can do a sampling of guns seized in the past year and determine they came from the United States?

And what about this 10,000 guns shops operate in the U.S. near the border? Are there really 10,000 gun shops near the border? Or by the border does Calderon mean anywhere with an eight hour drive to the border? Clearly this an attempt by Calderon to make his problem feel like it is our problem, despite the fact that for decades Mexico did little to stem the flow of illegal drugs to our country.