Steve P writes:
You write that as if somehow our responsibility for this crisis is mitigated by the fact that it’s not Americans who are smuggling the guns but Mexicans that are sneaking into America, buying arms wholesale from us and then sneaking back over the border. What’s the difference? They’re getting American guns from American sellers and using them to murder law enforcement.
The difference, Steve P, is that you seem to be an advocate for punishing law-abiding citizens for actions of criminals.
He continues:
And the reason they come here to shop for guns is not simply the proximity, it’s because we have some of the most lax gun laws in the world. If it were easier to get guns somewhere else, they would. But since we make it so easy for them to get the cop killer ammo they love, why should they go elsewhere?
For criminal syndicates with global reach, it is indeed easier to get many kinds of weapons somewhere else, and far cheaper at that. That is why there are criminal syndicates that specialize in weapons smuggling, buying machine guns, grenades, rockets, and other weapons on the black market in South America, Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia, and then shipping them to Mexico where they are resold to the cartels for a handsome profit. That is after all, why 83% of the guns recovered by Mexican police come from these areas… those that didn’t come from the Mexican Army, that is.
From weapons to ammunition, it can all be found cheaper outside of the United States than inside it, and many of their weapons can’t be bought here at any price.
The only reason that some American weapons are being found in Mexican hands is that until Obama was elected, the supply of guns on this side of the border allowed the cartels to up-gun their forces more quickly than waiting for an overseas shipment. Now that most popular weapons and ammunition are more months-long backorders here, expect the cheaper price and increased rate of fire of black market weaponry to squeeze would be America-to-Mexico smugglers out of the market almost entirely.
And Steve P, “cop killer” ammo is a media created myth. Most centerfire rifle ammunition common in big game hunting will penetrate the common body armor classes worn by police, and BATF has been in charge of identifying true armor-piercing ammunition, which has been illegal in the United States for decades.
