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Guns + Drugs = Corruption & War

recent article by Tim Rutten in the Los Angeles Times quotes Mexican strongman Porfirio Diaz who said his country’s great misfortune was to be located "so far from God and so near the United States." Never more true!

American’s political decisions to treat drug addiction as a crime rather than a public health problem represents a roughly $40 billion profit to the Mexican drug cartels, keeping America’s addicts and recreational drug users supplied. The New York Times Silja J.A. Talvi editorialized on February 27, 2009, "There should be immense shame on this side of the border that America’s addiction to drugs is bolstered by its feckless gun controls.... Mexico is right to insist that the U.S. truly acknowledge the extent to which its own citizens (and policies) create and sustain the consumer market for illicit drugs. There’s no getting around the fact that Americans have the highest illicit substance use and abuse rates in the world, and Mexican drug cartels are but the latest of our transnational network of "'suppliers.'"

However, it is also a lucrative trade deal for the illegal American gun runners. Mexico has strict gun control laws, prohibiting the purchase of assault rifles and requiring gun purchases to be registered with the government. Mexican authorities have seized nearly 40,000 illegal firearms in 2008 and 95 percent of the guns traced were purchased in the United States and 55 percent of those weapons were assault rifles, which can be bought legally in most of the U.S. Mexican law enforcement has sought U.S. help in tracing these illegal weapons. The Mexican government has finally been given electronic access, by the U.S. Department of Justice, to trace the origins of registered weapons, but only if they are used in the commission of crimes. In many states guns can be easily purchased by Americans, including assault weapons and .50-caliber rifles from private sellers and at gun shows, without a background check. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) reported that 7,700 guns recovered in Mexico in 2008 were actually traced to American sales, more than double the number in 2007. Border towns in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas are especially vulnerable. There are 6,600 gun shops in multiple cities and towns just north of the 2,000 mile-long U.S.-Mexican border.

Approximately 7,000 deaths in Mexico have been reported over the last 15 months and have been attributed to the narco-war, and it’s feared a similarly high level of drug-related violence will spill into the U.S. in a snowballing effect.

Gun control expert, Tom Diaz of the Violence Policy Center (VPC), says the administration can help control gun violence in Mexico by enforcing already existing U.S. laws. Diaz stated that imports of certain semiautomatic rifles were regulated under the first Bush and Clinton administrations. But he told a House panel the import rules were relaxed under the most recent Bush administration. Diaz also says a 1930s gun law can be used to regulate imports of .50-caliber rifles also used by the cartels. “If one wanted to design a system to pour military-style guns into criminal hands, it would be hard to find a better one than the U.S. civilian gun market,” Diaz testified before the Subcommittee on National Security & Foreign Affairs of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Diaz pointed out that officials of the ATF have stated that Mexican drug lords increasingly seek military-style weapons easily available in the U.S. civilian market. The VPC has issued numerous studies on the increasing military-bred lethality of civilian firearms in the United States and on the lax regulation of the U.S. gun market. Exact descriptions of these weapons are available at the VPC website. Diaz told the subcommittee that President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder could immediately direct ATF to strictly exercise its statutory authority to stop the importation of all semiautomatic assault rifles as “non-sporting” weapons under existing provisions of the 1968 Gun Control Act.

The Obama Administration could rapidly take action to stop the import into the U.S. of AK-47-type assault rifles that have become one of the favored weapons of Mexican drug cartels. Kristen Rand, VPC Legislative Director, told a Congressional subcommittee on March 18, 2009, that “Enforcement of the existing ban on the importation of foreign-made assault rifles would have significant impact on the firepower available to Mexican drug cartels.” Rand testified before the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The ban was first implemented by the George H. W. Bush Administration in 1989 and is separate from the now-expired federal assault weapons ban. It does not require congressional action to be enforced or modified.

“Unfortunately,” stated Rand, “the ATF – the federal agency charged with enforcing the import ban – has allowed the ban to collapse and has even helped to create loopholes to circumvent it, such as allowing importers to bring foreign-made assault weapons into the country in parts.” Rand pointed out that ATF officials have stated in congressional testimony that Mexican drug lords increasingly seek military-style weapons easily available on the U.S. civilian market, including AK-47-type assault rifles.

President Obama said in his acceptance speech that we should keep assault weapons out of the hands of criminals. That won’t happen unless these lethal firearms are banned. At least 65 percent of the public is in favor of banning assault weapons. Why are members of Congress allowing an extremist minority to control the majority?

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New Study Shows Need For Improved Data On Youth Gang Violence & Guns In California

“The issue of youth gang violence and firearms is defined far more by what is not known, than what is known,” according to a new 57-page study released February 26, 2009 by the Violence Policy Center (VPC). The study, Youth Gang Violence and Guns: Data Collection in California, “comprehensively reviews California databases containing gang and/or gun information. It examines the types of information being maintained; how it is collected; inconsistencies that may exist; and whether information currently available can help answer questions about youth gang violence and guns.” The study, funded by a grant from the California Wellness Foundation, also includes responses to a statewide survey of California law enforcement agencies.

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Critical Lawsuit Against Gunrunner Fails

Arizona State prosecutors suffered a public setback in efforts to combat border violence when Judge Robert Gottsfield dismissed high-profile charges against a Phoenix gun dealer, George Iknadosian, owner of X-Caliber Guns, accused of arming Mexican cartels. In mid-trial, all 21 counts were dismissed by Superior Court Judge Gottsfield, who decided he found a flaw in the government’s case.

Iknadosian was accused of selling more than 700 ‘weapons of choice’ to straw buyers, (a straw buyer is a legal purchaser who knowingly purchases firearms for another), on behalf of narcotics syndicates in Mexico.

According to a minute entry, Gottsfield concluded that evidence against Iknadosian was not sufficient to support conviction based on a technical legal issue. He said because the gun buyers all were eligible to acquire firearms, their deception did not amount to a “material falsification.” Consequently, Gottsfield ruled the evidence did not show felonious conduct by Iknadosian. Gottsfield issued a directed verdict of not guilty for Iknadosian, 47, who was charged with fraud, money-laundering and other offenses.

About a dozen co-defendants pleaded guilty to felony charges before other judges. Gottsfield’s ruling on Wednesday now appears to question whether they committed the crimes for which they were convicted. The straw buyers, all of whom became cooperative witnesses, signed statements at the time of purchase, falsely declaring that they were acquiring the weapons for themselves.

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Unintended Consequences: What the Supreme Court's Second Amendment Decision in D.C. v. Heller means for the future of gun laws. Visit the Brady Campaign.

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