More Propaganda, Plain and Simple

            In today’s Herald Journal (8/16/07) another so called news article on the problem of guns in Mexico was printed. This article is clearly an opinion piece disguised as news. Unfortunately, the principles of journalism are being constantly eroded. In this article, all kinds of allegations are made with no supporting facts. If you notice, no authority is actually identified. In addition, it starts out with bold allegations about “an influx of assault rifles, armor-piercing pistols (whatever that is) and fragmentation grenades.” First, assault rifles are fully automatic and not available at your local gun store. Secondly, they surely mean armor piercing pistol ammunition, which is not available to US citizen’s period. Thirdly the last time I checked, fragmentation grenades are not an item for sale period.

            Look carefully at the picture (page A9). You will notice that there is two satellite phones, four pistol magazines, what could or could not be a pistol in a holster, a bunch of US dollars and loose ammunition.  Where are the assault rifles, fragmentation grenades or armor piercing pistols? What this really is, is another argument disguised as news to support tougher gun control in the US as well as support for UN gun control measures. They also use the statistic that “11,752 US sold guns have been seized in Mexico since 2003.” That is about 3,000 guns per year. When you consider the population of Mexico is at least 125 million this works at to, .00002 guns per person per year. Wow! That is truly an epidemic!

            Lastly, I wonder if assault rifles are really a problem. In the article they talk about criminals leaving their guns behind after a crime. I suspect from this that they are really talking about handguns. There have been numerous reports of Mexican soldiers or National Police escorting drug smuggles across the US border. So could it be that organized criminals get their firearms from government agents (which were originally made in the US) and sold or given to the Mexican government?

            Great Britain an Australia are both island nations. This should make controlling smuggling much easier to control. Their authorities constantly seize illegal firearms, thousands by the thousands, much of which came from either the former Soviet Bloc or Red China. Any illegal item will find its way via the path of least resistance, like anything in commerce. If the US had the strictest gun control laws in the world, firearms would still find their way to Mexico, because there is a big demand. Just ask your local drug dealer.

Peace