Ricardo wrote:HaHa funny, Canadian guy. Guns are, in fact, very strictly regulated in Mexico. And it's always fun and easy to make fun of lousy conditions in Third World countries. But let's think about the facts of the situation: Drug lords have no trouble buying AR15's and AK-47's by the armload from morons in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas who know better but don't care. Morons who prostitute the right to bear arms by selling to criminals. Who don't worry so long as the killings are in another country. And who are the drugs for, anyway? An entirely different bunch of morons, also in the USA.
Canadians are in the unique position of having a reasonably lax attitude about guns while also having a low crime rate and low murder rate. You guys are lucky; don't make fun of the rest of us.
Before you start calling people morons I think you need to get some of your fact right. Yes the Mexican very strictly control guns but at the expense of so common person who isn't allowed defend himself from the bad guys who could care less about a law that means nothing to them especially when they are ready to commit murder. The bad guys, in this case, can range from anybody including corrupt government officials, which includes the police and the military. The Mexican government is one of those socialistic governments that believes only the government can protect you, which should sound familiar to people here in the US that people in our government are advocating. "I am the government and I am here to protect you". Well we can all see how well that is working out for the Mexican People.
Your accusations that the gun dealers along the border are the main source of weapons is unfounded in fact the latest ATF sting that back fired showed that it was the gun dealers along the border tried to warn the ATF about these buys and it was the government that approved those transactions.
One would also have to ask why would the drug cartels with the financial resources greater then most third world countries would want to buy semi auto guns when they can buy the real military hardware. This is not to say that this isn't happening at all, but why would you go through all the hassle of converting weapons when you can get the real full auto version elsewhere for the same or cheaper. It turns out that a great many of the evil black weapons are happening to be coming from Central America countries such as Guatemala were obtaining these guns is easy and cheap. Bring the guns across these borders is actually apparently easier then bringing them across the US Border if you can believe that. The other fact that is not being discussed is that given the amount of corruption in the government, police and military you can beat that many of your taxpayer dollar guns are being turned over to the drug cartels and other criminal enterprises from those same corrupt officials.
People are so uninformed about the amount of real military hardware being sold and traded out there that it makes the stuff coming from come dealers look pale in comparison.
For example, during the Nicaraguans rein of the Sandinista regime thousands of M16s were sold to various factions in that war. I believe the number of estimated M16s left to the South number in the quarter million and that doesn't even count the number of M60s, mortars, artillery and other munitions left behind. The North Vietnamese sold the munitions to whoever would buy them without much concern as to were they would end up or harm they would cause. Those guns are still being used by various factions and criminals in the country to commit mayhem.
During the Cold War the Soviets, Chinese and their cold block countries literally gave millions of AK47s and other military hardware to people and countries that would make trouble for the western countries. I believe there are about 100 million plus AKs in the world today and in fact according to one documentary their are so many AKs out there that some are selling as cheap as (I believe) much as $25. The documentary also made the point that there is so many out there that the Russians are having trouble selling their newer designed rifle from Kalashnikov. Why would you want to spend more for the newer designed rifle when you can buy something that is plentiful and cheap and still do the same job? In addition, why would you want to buy a semi auto AK in the US for hundreds of dollars when you can get the full auto version for the same price or cheaper by the bulk from the sources mentioned above. The only thing that has changed with the Russians and Chinese is that it has become a pure business proposition so they aren't giving them away anymore and now it is cash on the barrel head.
When I was serving in the Navy during the 70s the military lost enough weapons during I believe one year to equip nine battalions. The lost weapons not only included rifles and pistol, but rocket launchers of all types, mortars, light and heavy machine guns and even artillery. The lose was so bad that it made into the national news services and even Readers Digest. I got the official lost report through regular military traffic communications. In addition, while serving in Guam the Navy intercepted a ship carrying tons of illegal weapons destined for who knows where, but in that cargo hold was everything you needed to start a small war. Just recently in 2009, the government couldn't account for 46,000 guns given to the Afghan police.
One of the basic points being made here is that the amount of guns as being attributed as coming from US gun dealers to criminals in Mexico pales in comparison to the amount of real military hardware out there available to anyone that has the money to bribe and pay for the hardware.