A Letter To The Oklahoman's Editor

Ed (Kelley): This story appeared in today's (Friday's) paper:

Most of the weapons being used in the Mexican drug wars — 6,290 people died last year and more than 1,000 this year — are smuggled across the border from gun dealers in the U.S.

I don't know where this came from, but it reads like U. S. gun dealers are smuggling firearms across the border. Patently, untrue. Were it true, the BATFE would be having a field day slamming the door on gun dealers. If the story had read "some firearms purchased from gun dealers are smuggled across the border into Mexico," it would be a provable statement.

And the assertion/implication that "Most of the weapons being used in the Mexican drug wars" come from the U. S. is unproven based on what the BATFE reports. Latest figure I've seen is 17 percent of the weapons seized in Mexico have been traced to U. S. sales. That number is based on this report:

In 2007-2008, according to ATF Special Agent William Newell, Mexico submitted 11,000 guns to the ATF for tracing. Close to 6,000 were successfully traced -- and of those, 90 percent -- 5,114 to be exact, according to testimony in Congress by William Hoover -- were found to have come from the U.S.

But in those same two years, according to the Mexican government, 29,000 guns were recovered at crime scenes.

In other words, 68 percent of the guns that were recovered were never submitted for tracing. (It is reported that's because they had manufacturer-of-origin markings from other counties.)

Do the math and it appears, based on these numbers, that about 83 percent of ALL the firearms recovered were not traced to the U. S. ~ Mike McCarville

Share |