Thursday, July 9, 2009

The continued retreat from the '90%' claim regarding U.S. guns in Mexico

That is the title of a commentary by Kurt Hoffman that i would suggest that everyone should read.

Here is a funny but enlightening quote:

So, what about those "20,000 trafficked guns"--isn't that rather damning? Well, certainly it's nothing to be happy about. Oh--did I mention that that number represents 5 years worth of seized guns? Let's think about some context here. How many illegal immigrants have come across the border in the last 5 years? How many tons of illegal drugs? If your answer, in both cases, was "a heck of a lot more than 20,000," give yourself a cigar.

There's also the little matter of what we're supposed to do about it. The same report cited by Helmke and Sugarmann states that 4,000 of those trafficked guns came from California--#1 Brady Campaign ranked California, where nearly every "anti-trafficking" measure the Brady Campaign can think of (one gun per month, no "gun show loophole," waiting periods, registration of gun owners, state licensing for dealers, etc.--not to mention the strictest faux "assault weapon" ban in the nation and a ban on .50 caliber rifles) is already in place. California in fact, is apparently the second largest source state of guns trafficked into Mexico (Texas is first). Proximity to the border would seem to play a much larger role than the restrictiveness of gun laws.

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