Mexican legislators demand US talks on gun scandal

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Mexican legislators demand US talks on gun scandal
The Associated Press
Tuesday, March 8, 2011; 7:38 PM

MEXICO CITY -- Legislators from all of Mexico's three major parties in congress are calling for a joint U.S.-Mexico working group to examine accusations that U.S. federal agents allowed hundreds of guns to flow into Mexico.

Congressman Humberto Trevino estimated Tuesday that 150 shooting injuries or deaths have been linked to guns that were allowed to proceed into Mexico as part of a U.S. effort to build cases against traffickers.

Two of those weapons were involved in the killing of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent in December in southeastern Arizona.

Mexican drug cartels frequently pay straw purchasers to buy weapons at U.S. gun stores and smuggle them south to avoid stringent gun-control laws in Mexico.




Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/08/AR2011030805248.html

[WatsonT]

1. Sure, right after they detail all their government corruption

that favors the cartels.

[primavera]

2. Theoretically, we're supposed to be better than that - n/t

[Vinee]

3. sorry, can't talk right now. we have a...crisis...somewhere....or something.

[TheWraith]

4. I take issue with a bit in this article.

"Mexican drug cartels frequently pay straw purchasers to buy weapons at U.S. gun stores and smuggle them south to avoid stringent gun-control laws in Mexico."

Not quite. The cartels are quite capable of importing fully-automatic weapons from other countries, and/or stealing them from the Mexican Army. They have no need for much more expensive semi-automatic (non-machine-gun) weapons bought from the US. The only groups likely to do this are the weaker groups without the connections to get other weapons. The myth that 90% of guns in Mexico come from the US is just that, a myth. The actual number is about 12 to 17%.

[RedCloud]

5. Remember: Guns don't kill people. Bullets do.