U.S. Guns Fuel Bloody Mexican Drug Wars

The Skinny: Rival Drug Cartels Battle It Out With Smuggled American Weapons

(CBS)  The Skinny is Keach Hagey's take on the top news of the day and the best of the Internet.

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The U.S. isn't the only country struggling with the effects of what's coming illegally over the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Washington Post reports that 100 percent of drug-related killings in Mexico are carried out with smuggled American weapons, according to Mexican police. About 2,000 enter Mexico each day, according to a Mexican government study.

The guns are "crucial tools in an astoundingly barbaric war between rival cartels that has cost 4,000 lives in the past 18 months and sent law enforcement agencies in Washington and Mexico City into crisis mode," the Post reports.

Officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms hope that some of the money will be used to give Mexican police chiefs greater access to U.S. databases for gun traces. Right now, the traces can only be made through federal police headquarters in Mexico City. That takes so long that many local cops don't bother.

They get into Mexico stuffed into the baggy pant legs or hidden in the trunks of "ants," or gunrunners -- often aided by corrupt customs officials. The weapons are often bought legally at gun shows in Arizona and other border states where loopholes allow criminals to stock up without background checks.

Guns are now flooding into the country in part because of the cartel war, and in part because of the ease of buying high-powered weapons since the U.S. assault weapons ban was not renewed in 2004, according to an ATF official.

The American taxpayer must now mop up the bloody results of the ban's demise: President Bush has promised $500 million in U.S. aid to help Mexico battle drug cartels, who are formidable precisely because of their steady supply of AK-47s and grenade launchers that were made In the U.S.A.

U.S. Has Talked Big On Darfur, But Has Done Very Little

There's been enough hot air emanating from the Bush administration over the crisis in Darfur in the past few years to warm the climate a few degrees.

But the Washington Post takes a long, hard look at those promises this morning, and find them coming up very short.

A year and a half after President Bush called for international troops on the ground to protect innocent Darfuris and repeatedly described the situation there as "genocide," the situation on the ground remains unchanged. More than 2 million displaced Darfuris have been unable to return to their homes. Despite a renewed United Nations push, the international peacekeepers have yet to materialize.

In spite of his passionate rhetoric, Bush has been ineffectual on two fronts: unable to mobilize either his bureaucracy or the international community.

Every time the president says he wants to take some direct action in Darfur, his aides block him, pointing out the folly of the U.S. being seen as invading another Muslim country. And then there's the elephant in the room: the U.S. has no strategic interests in Sudan.

"Advisers say Bush came to accept, albeit grudgingly, the arguments against using U.S. military assets - especially the possibility that they might attract al Qaeda," the paper reports.

But Bush's efforts to get other military assets onto the ground to help the strained African Union troops have gone nowhere, according to the paper.

"Overall," concluded John Bolten, the former U.N. ambassador to the United Nations. "Sudan is a case where there's a lot of international rhetoric and no stomach for real action."

Big Law Firms Turn Out To Be Embarrassingly Full Of White Men

Big law firms are getting graded on diversity by a bunch of law students at Stanford, the New York Times reports, and many are failing.

Students are handing out "diversity report cards" ranking firms on how many female, minority and gay lawyers they have, and then asking elite schools to restrict recruiting by those at the bottom of their rankings.

In New York, a third of the big firms have no black partners, and an overlapping third no Hispanic ones. Half the firms in Boston have no black partners, and three quarters no Hispanic ones.

"This is 2007," said Michel Landis Daubner, a law professor at Stanford and the adviser for the project, called Building a Better Legal Profession. "If you can't find a single black or Hispanic partner, that's not an accident."

The students also found relatively few female partners in New York, ranging from 7 percent at Fulbright & Jaworski to 23 percent at Morrison & Foerster.

Those numbers are "a bit of canary in the coal mine," said Deborah Rhode, another Stanford law professor. "The absence of women as partners often says something about how firms deal with work-family issues."

A NOTE TO READERS: The Skinny is available via e-mail. Click here and follow the directions to register to receive it in your inbox each weekday morning.

[ke3mf]

AK-47s are made in America?

[Krazcarl]

you know america if theres money to be made were there

[tnt1954]

thanks stacey. well done. international arms
control treaties, include water pistols loaded
with lsd. sprayed in your face, you''ll hallucinate.
can be absorbed through the skin. lots of other
international weapons invented every day. rumour
is it that the cordoba research and development
corporation has devised a weapon that can destroy
21 trillion cubic parsecs of space in a nanosecond.
most atf agents think that is pure malarky.
that''s impossible. and other rumours of an
''aladdin device'' that can make something from nothing
from a hand held device, more nonsense most atf
agents feel. there''s kinds of malarky in the
weapons markets. bulldungi. ripley''s lies or not.
liar, liar pants on fire. just laser weapons from
space, heating up those brush fires? course,
things are totally mellow fellow on the space
station. orders to blow them outta orbit should
they get fresh. challenges of the future are
most troublesome. is there a solution? no, not
really. its a bogus problem.

[extremophil]

Sorry to interrupt the mindless blather. I just wanted to remark that I''m happy our guns are doing some good in Mexico.

[marine-e8ret]

ak-47s and grenade launchers sold at gun shows? I think there is a federal law that regulates automatic weapons and they are not sold at gun shows to just anyone. You must have a special license to purchase an automatic weapon. I really wish authors such as this one would do their research.

[gunownerdan]

The "WAR ON DRUGS" is a drug dealer''s best friend. How else can they have a monopoly on billions of dollars in profits?!?
To best fight crime and violence, cops say END PROHIBITION!
www.leap.cc
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

[gunownerdan]

"Today we need a nation of minute men; citizens who are not only prepared to take up arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as a basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom. The cause of liberty, the cause of American, cannot succeed with any lesser effort."
-- President John F. Kennedy, January 29, 1961

[mike71067]

"Guns are now flooding into the country in part because of the cartel war, and in part because of the ease of buying high-powered weapons since the U.S. assault weapons ban was not renewed in 2004, according to an ATF official."

The ATF official is lying, and CBS News is spreading it around. The "assault weapons" ban did not outlaw any of the "high-powered" semi-automatic weapons; it simply outlawed bayonet lugs, flash supressors, and in some cases, pistol grips, not the guns themselves The ATF agent interviewed either does not even understand the law or is intentionally lying. Shame on CBS News for spreading these falsehoods.

[elichez1]

As usual, the ATF, our government, and the media are lying sacks of S^H*I&T!!!!!!!!!! Stop giving Mexico everything a hardworking American can''t afford. What WE (as an American) can''t afford is Mexico as a neighbor. Americans need to take back our government from the pieces of *** that are selling us down the river.
As Kennedy said: we need to start thinking of taking up arms!!!!! I would get arrested if I said what I really thought!!

[gunownerdan]

~Drug Prohibition Fuels Bloody Mexican Drug Wars~


Get it right for crying out loud!
www.leap.cc
www.mpp.org

[tburzio]

"Well Regulated" means "proficient, likely to cause a good outcome".

[tburzio]

Darfur is China''s game, and we are indeed doing something. We are making export corn headed to China into alcohol to fuel cars. Lighten up in Darfur, and we''ll stop making ethanol for cars.

[gunnerv1]

If they don''t watch out this title could easly be U.S. Guns Fueling Bloody Illegal Immigration Wars!

[erasmus6]

Yup, the good old U.S. of A., eh?
They just can''t keep their guns to themselves.

When there is an incident involving a gun here in Canada, the gun is usually traced back to the U.S.

The U.S. isn''t happy with just destroying their own country, they have to destroying everyone elses too.

[bjiggs]

Is there anyone left in the media who actually does research before spouting off about things?

Assault rifles and grenade launchers cannot be purchased without a federal firearms license but this doesn''t seem to matter at all to the author. And she''s obviously oblivious to the fact that AK-47s aren''t "made in the US".

Why should we take this article serious at all when the author clearly has no idea what she''s talking about?

[c3227ahb]

Where do they find these retrograde reporters? Herr Joseph Goebbels would not be proud. American made AK-47''s? At least do some research for crying out loud.

%u201CIf you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.%u201D
- Joseph Goebbels

[toolmangler-2009]

And she''''s obviously oblivious to the fact that AK-47s aren''''t "made in the US".

Why should we take this article serious at all when the author clearly has no idea what she''''s talking about?

Posted by bjiggs at 12:56 PM : Oct 29, 2007


And you do?
You should have Googled first.......

http://www.ak-47.us/USmade.php

[toolmangler-2009]

open mouth, insert foot.

[incog-nito]

Well with all kinds of U.S. manufacturing jobs going overseas, we do need some kind of industry here to keep the economy afloat.

[toolmangler-2009]

Posted by incog-nito at 01:17 PM : Oct 2


True, True.

[gunownerdan]

This story is the type of propaganda used to frighten the public into thinking guns are somehow responsible for a failed drug-prohibition policy.
www.leap.cc

[rudy654-2009]

Where do they find these retrograde reporters? Herr Joseph Goebbels would not be proud. American made AK-47''''s? At least do some research for crying out loud.
Posted by c3227ahb at 01:09 PM

Yes, please do that next time before you show the stupidity in your own comments. Like someone else said, a simple "google" would have revealed how wrong you are.

[jn4ggs]

maybe there are fewer female partners of major law firms because it is detrimental to the business to have a partner unavilable for work for 9 months at a time. is that sexism or a direct result of the very real differences between men and women?

the total absense of blacks and hispanics is embarassing

[xlib]

All good points postes thus far. Seems to me just another "it''s (insert issue)all America''s fault." As for the jobs going overseas, that''s been going on for a long, long time. In the mid-90''s I called the Sears service department and when detecting an obvious accent asked where I had called, I was informed that all service calls were relayed to India. So, this issue has been building for quite a while.

[xlib]

eramus6-I have the perfect solution so that you can enjoy the Shangrila that is Canada-stay there. I''m getting a bit sick and tired of you Candians coming to the US and using our health care facilities as well as our shopping malls and gas stations. So, stay north my friend and we''ll all be happy.

One question there, why are you bothering to post on a US site?? No places to blog up there?

[gunownerdan]

We must get AK-47''s out of the hands of dangerous drug gangs.
BUY ONE FOR YOURSELF!
www.a-human-right.com/effective.html

[lfitts1]

This story is the type of propaganda used to frighten the public into thinking guns are somehow responsible for a failed drug-prohibition policy.
www.leap.cc

Posted by gunownerdan

The problem is ..we do have a failed drug policy AND we have a failed gun policy. The US gun policy not only makes us less safe it makes other countries less safe. Terrorists do not need to ''smuggle their weapons into the US--they can arm themselves easily and legally once they get here..yes yes, I heard the BS about the 2nd amendment--the right of the states to raise a militia--the individual is 12 times more likely to shoot a family member than to shoot an intruder--look at Canada--very little gun violence--almost all of the gun violence is from guns that come from the US. Look at England --very little gun violence--why you ask--LESS GUNS !!! We are ALL made LESS SAFE by the number of firearms in the US--and this administration has helped make those weapons more available. The police are routinely out gunned. There are idiots who think that students and teachers should be carrying concealed weapons routinely--what are we ?? Are we reverting to Dodge City ???

[sevenveils]

The root of Mexico''s drug cartel problem isn''t gun from the US. It is the vast corruption of the Mexican government that has created an healthy environment for drug cartels.

When it comes to patrolling the US Mexican boarder, the Mexican police aren''t in that picture. Perhaps Mexico should build a fence to keep the gun smugglers from illegally entering Mexico.

[gunownerdan]

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."
-- Thomas Jefferson, quoting criminologist Cesare Beccaria
a-human-right.com

[lfitts1]

Yeh, yeh..the root of all evil..preventing idiots from obtaining and carrying assault weapons and grnade launchers--I feel so much safer when I have my 50 caliber machine gun with me...

[maypo]

We have forgotten the lessons of prohibition. Thats the root cause of the problem.

[gunownerdan]

Guns are not to blame for a failed drug prohibition policy!!!
www.leap.cc
www.mpp.org

[condumism]

This should make the AMerican jinGOPigs happy. Guns, war, killing people is apparently a huge adrenaline rush for most any jinGOPig. Guess when you are born and bred with recycled DNA and recycled family hate, ita baout all you are gonna have to go through life with: HATE. Did I just descibe some White Trash jinGOPigs south of the Mason_Dixon line?

[gunownerdan]

Condumbism,
By NO means must you be "some White Trash jinGOPigs south of the Mason_Dixon line" in order to understand the importance of responsible civilian gun ownership.
www.a-human-right.com

Liberals With Guns
http://www.liberalswithguns.com/index.html

Amendment II Democrats
http://www.a2dems.net/

Pro Gun Progressive
http://www.progunprogressive.com/

The Gun Toting Liberal
http://www.guntotingliberal.com/

More Gun Toting Liberals
http://www.geocities.com/guntotingliberals/

Pink Pistols
http://www.pinkpistols.org

Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership
http://www.jpfo.org

Black Man With A Gun
http://www.blackmanwithagun.com

[condumism]

Posted by gunownerdan
By NO means must you be "some White Trash jinGOPigs south of the Mason_Dixon line" in order to understand the importance of responsible civilian gun ownership

I have no problem with gun owners. I do have a problem, however, with an armed militia funded by the US taxpayer. It seems more appropriate that with gun ownership you have a responsiblity to also go off to fight for America to defend the Corporate Interests. I am sick and tired of the US taxpayer funding a completley needless militia to go off and fight all these needless wars since WWII.

[sonotso1]

'' ...

sober as stone

building flying dragons out of tin cans

shooting ducks fast as i can

i spank the little girls into clothes

i wear alot of clothes

folk throw at me money and votes

they like that i''m a normal one

i get all their ignorant kids done

i''m sober as a stone

they can''t make it on their own

... ''

[erasmus6]

Xlib

"I''''m getting a bit sick and tired of you Candians coming to the US and using our health care facilities."

Well the only ones that come are the RICH SNOTS that think they are better than everybody else and can''t wait a couple of days. As for everybody else, no one in their right mind would go to the States. We have health care here. We would rather not die from your germ infested, filthy hospitals. Now as for the malls, you might not want to turn us away, you need all the money you can get. Your country is going bankrupt.


"One question there, why are you bothering to post on a US site?? No places to blog up there?"

Actually the only reason I post on the U.S. site is to find out what is going on in your country. With us being your neighbors I want to keep up with things there. Afterall if you get blown up by your enemies, we will likely go with you.

Another thing, in Canada we don''t like to air our dirty laundry to the whole world like the U.S. does.

[erasmus6]

Xlib

Also our media doesn''t advertise our weak spots and give out too much information, so the terrorists can use it to their advantage. Actually I don''t think we have as much of a problem with the terrorists trying to get us like the U.S. does.:)

[badmofojim]

Gawd if this was the 1800''s There would be no such thing as Anti-Gun retards.

[lfitts1]

Gawd if this was the 1800''''s There would be no such thing as Anti-Gun retards.

Posted by Badmofojim

You are so right--let''s return to the good old days of the wild west---saddle up and hand me my six shooters...

[gunownerdan]

It is not logical to blame guns for a failed drug prohibition policy.
This story is just more government propaganda demonizing guns and ignoring the real cause of the problem(prohibition).

[gunownerdan]

COPS SAY LEGALIZE DRUGS!
ASK US WHY
After nearly four decades of fueling the U.S. policy of a war on drugs with over a trillion tax dollars and 37 million arrests for nonviolent drug offenses, our confined population has quadrupled making building prisons the fastest growing industry in the United States. More than 2.2 million of our citizens are currently incarcerated and every year we arrest an additional 1.9 million more guaranteeing those prisons will be bursting at their seams. Every year we choose to continue this war will cost U.S. taxpayers another 69 billion dollars. Despite all the lives we have destroyed and all the money so ill spent, today illicit drugs are cheaper, more potent, and far easier to get than they were 35 years ago at the beginning of the war on drugs. Meanwhile, people continue dying in our streets while drug barons and terrorists continue to grow richer than ever before. We would suggest that this scenario must be the very definition of a failed public policy. This madness must cease!

Get Involved-
www.leap.cc
www.mpp.org

[usaprophet]

Like Ron Paul, I share our Founders'' belief that in a free society each citizen must have the right to keep and bear arms. They ratified the Second Amendment knowing that this right is the guardian of every other right, and they all would be horrified by the proliferation of unconstitutional legislation that prevents law-abiding Americans from exercising this right. Congressman, Paul has always supported the Second Amendment and these are some of the bills he introduced in the current Congress to help restore respect for it: H.R. 1096 includes provisions repealing the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act and the Federal Firearms License Reform Act of 1993, two invasive and unconstitutional bills. H.R. 1897 would end the ban on carrying a firearm in the National Park System, restoring Americans'' ability to protect themselves in potentially hazardous situations. H.R. 3305 would allow pilots and specially assigned law enforcement personnel to carry firearms in order to protect airline passengers, possibly preventing future 9/11-style attacks. H.R. 1146 would end our membership in the United Nations, protecting us from their attempts to tax our guns or disarm us entirely. In the past, he introduced legislation to repeal the so-called assault weapons ban before its 2004 sunset, and he has opposed all attempts to reinstate it. Congessman, Paul also recently opposed H.R. 2640, which would allow government-appointed psychiatrists to ban U.S. veterans experiencing even mild forms of PTSD.

[gkc99]

"steady supply of AK-47s . . . that were made In the U.S.A."


Such as? Since the rifle was invented by a Russian, the U.S. military never used it. Most civilian AKs are made in China or the Eastern European block.

Kindly cite some U.S. firms that make AKs!

[gkc99]

"Another thing, in Canada we don''''t like to air our dirty laundry to the whole world like the U.S. does.
"--Posted by erasmus6


That''s why you got so much dirty $hit up there--it never airs out.

Unfortunately, Yourassmus seems to have endless hours to explain to us why we''re such trash.

So what HAS your government taken a stand on since WW2?

[toolmangler-2009]

Kindly cite some U.S. firms that make AKs!

Posted by gkc99 at 07:48 PM : Oct 29, 2007


If you Google AK47 +made in USA This is what you find
"Results 1 - 30 of about 822,000 English pages for ak47 made in USA"



These firms are in America and they make AK-47s in America.


Horns Custom Rifles
Ewbank Manufacturing
AK-USA Manufacturing Inc.
Marshall Arms
Arsenal Inc
Vector Arms
Ohio Ordnance Works
Robinson Armament Co
Piece of History Firearms LLC
Global Trades / Armory USA
Ohio Rapid Fire
Krebs of Krebs Custom, Inc
Red Jacket Firearms
Firing Line
Vulcan Arms, Inc.

http://www.ak-47.us/USmade.php

[toolmangler-2009]

Actually the only reason I post on the U.S. site is to find out what is going on in your country. With us being your neighbors I want to keep up with things there. Afterall if you get blown up by your enemies, we will likely go with you

Posted by erasmus6 at 03:42 PM : Oct 29, 2007


So , is it true that you send all your *** offenders to somene elses country (Like Thailand)?

[usaprophet]

I agree with Dr. Paul about the issue of illegal immigration. The talk must stop. We must secure our borders now. A nation without secure borders is no nation at all. It makes no sense to fight terrorists abroad when our own front door is left unlocked. Ron Paul has a plan: (1.) Physically secure our borders and coastlines. We must do whatever it takes to control entry into our country before we undertake complicated immigration reform proposals. (2.) Enforce visa rules. Immigration officials must track visa holders and deport anyone who overstays their visa or otherwise violates U.S. law. This is especially important when we recall that a number of 9/11 terrorists had expired visas. (3.) No amnesty. Estimates suggest that 10 to 20 million people are in our country illegally. That''s a lot of people to reward for breaking our laws. (4.) No welfare for illegal aliens. Americans have welcomed immigrants who seek opportunity, work hard, and play by the rules, but taxpayers should not pay for illegal immigrants who use hospitals, clinics, schools, roads, and social services. (5.) End birthright citizenship. As long as illegal immigrants know their children born here will be citizens, the incentive to enter the U.S. illegally will remain strong. (6.) Pass true immigration reform. The current system, and those proposed by ALL other candidates, is incoherent and unfair, and would allow up to 60 million more immigrants into our country.

[logicanada]

I have to agree that prohibition is not the answer. Denmark has legalized the use of drugs and the savings from enforcement and incarceration have offset community rehab costs and counseling. How many drug wars in Demark? Mexico''s problems run to the roots of poverty.

[erasmus6]

"So , is it true that you send all your *** offenders to somene elses country (Like Thailand)?" posted by ToolMangler

Sometimes you come up with the silliest things.