Thread: Obama pledges help to slow US arms flow

Obama pledges help to slow US arms flow

By BEN FELLER, The Associated Press
7:10 p.m. April 16, 2009

MEXICO CITY — Confronting a Mexican drug war that is "sowing chaos in our communities," President Barack Obama signaled Thursday he will not seek renewal of a U.S. assault weapons ban but instead will step up enforcement of laws banning the transfer of such guns across the border.

Obama had pledged during his campaign to seek renewal of the ban but has bowed to the reality that such a move would be unpopular in politically key U.S. states and among Republicans as well as some conservative Democrats.

Obama met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who has been conducting an aggressive fight against drug cartels and had hoped to persuade Obama to push for reinstatement of the gun ban. Obama arrived here on the first stop of a trip that will take him to a weekend Summit of the Americas in Trinidad, bringing together the leaders of 34 Western Hemisphere democracies.

Allies in the fight against drugs, Obama and Calderon took different stands on U.S. sanctions against Cuba. Calderon said the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo has not been successful in forcing Cuba to adopt democratic reforms.

"I share fully the idea we do not believe that the embargo or the isolation of Cuba is a good measure for things to change in Cuba," Calderon said. "On the contrary; the reality that we see there is that the reality has not changed."

Obama pointed to the announcement this week that the U.S. was softening sanctions, allowing Americans to make unlimited transfers of money and visits to relatives in Cuba. But he said Cuba needs to reciprocate with actions that are "grounded in respect for human rights."

Cuban President Raul Castro, attending meetings in Venezuela, said his government is willing to discuss "everything" with Washington – including human rights, political prisoners and freedom of the press – as long as the discussion is "on equal terms." He did not specifically mention Obama's comments.

Obama acknowledged that the United States shares responsibility for bloodshed and kidnappings in Mexico that have spilled across the border into the United States. "I will not pretend this is Mexico's responsibility alone," Obama said.

"We have a responsibility as well, we have to do our part," Obama said. He said the U.S. must crack down on domestic drug use and the flow of weapons into Mexico.

Obama also said the United States and Mexico must work together to stem the problem of illegal immigration. He said he favors a more orderly process for immigrants who want to come to the United States and a pathway to legalization for those already in the U.S. illegally.

"My country has been greatly enriched by immigrants from Mexico," he said.

The two leaders also pledged to cooperate on combatting global warming and the global recession.

The U.S. ban on military-style assault weapons became law during the Clinton administration in 1994 and contributed to the Democrats' loss of Congress that year. It expired under the Bush administration in 2004. It had outlawed 19 types of weapons, banned certain features on firearms such as bayonet mounts, and limited ammunition magazines to 10 rounds.
When Attorney General Eric Holder raised the idea of reinstituting the ban this year, opposition from Democrats and Republicans emerged quickly.

Calderon made more direction mention of the U.S. politics of the matter than Obama did.

"We know that it is a politically delicate topic because Americans truly appreciate their constitutional rights, and particularly those that are part of the Second Amendment," Calderon said.

Obama said he still believed that the ban "made sense" but pointedly added: "None of us are under any illusion that reinstating that ban would be easy." He said he would focus instead on using existing laws to stop the flow of weapons to Mexico from the thousands of U.S. gun stores along the border.

"Now, are we going to eliminate all drug flows, are we going to eliminate all guns coming over the border?" Obama said. "That's not a realistic objective. What is a realistic objective is to reduce it so significantly, so drastically, that it becomes once again a localized criminal problem as opposed to a major structural problem that threatens stability in communities along those borders."

Obama also sought to put a focus on the more upbeat parts of the U.S.-Mexico relationship – such as shared commerce and culture – and not just the drug violence and immigration spats.

It was a theme he returned to on Thursday night at a dinner in his honor, held in an open-air courtyard of a Mexican museum.

"What makes us good neighbors is a simple truth, that our people share so much more than common challenges and common interests," Obama said. "We also share values and ideals."

Earlier, Calderon welcomed Obama to the presidential residence, Los Pinos, with an acknowledgment of the challenges: "My country is immersed in a historic transformation process. We live a robust democracy, which is also plural. We're also facing firmly the costs of the struggles in order to turn Mexico into a safer country."

Obama announced he would ask the Senate to ratify an inter-American weapons treaty meant to take on the bloody drug trade by restricting arms trafficking.

Just hours before Obama arrived in the country, a shootout between Mexican troops and a convoy of gunmen left 15 assailants and one soldier dead, Mexico's Defense Department said.

The Justice Department says Mexican drug trafficking organizations represent the greatest organized crime threat to the United States.

The Organization of American States adopted the weapons treaty in 1997 as a way to curtail dealing in illicit firearms throughout Latin America. Since then, 34 countries have signed the treaty, and 29 have ratified it. Former President Bill Clinton signed the treaty on Nov. 14, 1997, one day after it was endorsed by the OAS, but it was never acted on.

Calderon's aggressive stand against drug cartels has won him the aid of the United States and the prominent political backing of Obama.
Mexico is the main hub for cocaine and other drugs entering the U.S., and the United States is the primary source of guns used in Mexico's drug-related killings.

More than 10,000 people have been killed in Mexico in drug-related violence since Calderon's stepped-up effort against the cartels began in 2006. The State Department says contract killings and kidnappings on U.S. soil, carried out by Mexican drug cartels, are on the rise as well.

Obama has dispatched hundreds of federal agents, along with high-tech surveillance gear and drug-sniffing dogs, to the Southwest to help Mexico fight drug cartels, among many other steps aimed at addressing the escalating drug war.
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Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/ ... ndex=83486

I think there is a real difference between position on the campaign trail, and the reality of actually entering office. All of a sudden any prez is privvy to reality and analysis they never had before election. I can only imagine the words he coolly mumbled that are not fit for print.
Campaign promises are one thing but reality is quite another, especially when you realize you and the rest of the country have had few facts but lots of propaganda.

Seems Obama is talking out of both sides of his mouth. Comparing this story to the story at the top of this thread.

updated 8:49 p.m. EDT, Thu April 16, 2009

Obama, Calderón: Assault-gun ban could curb border violence

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- Reviving a ban on assault weapons and more strictly enforcing existing gun laws could help tamp down drug violence that has run rampant on the U.S.-Mexican border, President Obama said Thursday.
"We can respect and honor the Second Amendment while dealing with assault weapons," Obama says in Mexico.

"We can respect and honor the Second Amendment while dealing with assault weapons," Obama says in Mexico.

Speaking alongside Mexican President Felipe Calderón, Obama said he has "not backed off at all" on a campaign pledge to try to restore the ban. It was instituted under President Clinton and allowed to lapse by President George W. Bush.

"I continue to believe that we can respect and honor the Second Amendment right in our Constitution -- the rights of sportsmen and hunters and homeowners that want to keep their families safe -- to lawfully bear arms, while dealing with assault weapons that, as we know here in Mexico, are used to fuel violence," Obama said.

Obama and Calderón spoke after completing a wide-ranging meeting that included talk of the deadly border situation.

Calderón said that the link between Mexican drug violence and the U.S. ban on 19 types of military-style semi-automatic rifles -- which lapsed in 2004 -- is clear.

"From the moment the the prohibition on the sale of assault weapons was lifted a few years ago, we have seen an increase in the power of organized crime in Mexico," Calderón said.

He said that more than 16,000 assault weapons have been seized in the crackdown on drug traffickers, with almost 9 in 10 coming from the United States.

Some observers have said Obama may be slow to reintroduce the ban in Congress, where it would be sure to spark a fight at a time when his administration needs all the political clout it can muster to push its aggressive economic recovery efforts.

Calderón acknowledged the debate's thorny nature.
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"We know that it is a politically delicate topic because Americans truly appreciate their Constitutional rights," he said. "As long as we are able to express clearly what our problems in Mexico are, then we might be able to also seek a solution that respects the constitutional rights of Americans, that at the same time will avoid organized crime becoming better armed in our country."

Obama said he has asked Attorney General Eric Holder to study how current gun laws are enforced and whether loopholes in some can be tightened. He said laws already on the books should restrict the flow of weapons into Mexico.

Obama and Calderón said their discussions ranged from working together to combat global climate change, to efforts at comprehensive immigration reform. Obama noted his two votes as a U.S. senator for reforms was backed by then-President Bush but shot down by Bush's fellow Republicans over what they called an "amnesty" provision for illegal immigrants.

"For those immigrants who have put down roots -- they have come here illegally -- I think they need to pay a penalty for having broken the law. They need to come out of the shadows. Then we need to put them through a process where, if they want to stay in the United States, they have an opportunity to earn it," Obama said.

Calderón said the key to reducing illegal immigration is to grow jobs in Mexico, which he pledged to do.

But much of their talk centered on the drug violence. Video Watch report on President Obama's trip »

Since taking office in 2006, Calderón has worked to root out government corruption and crack down on the drug cartels that hold sway in many of Mexico's border regions. That, combined with ramped-up power struggles and turf warfare, has contributed to a rash of violence that has led to more than 1,000 deaths this year.

Obama commended Calderón on the steps his government has taken.

"But I will not pretend that this is a Mexican responsibility alone," he said. "A demand for these drugs in the United States is what is helping keep these cartels in business. This war is being waged with guns not purchased here but in the United States."

Obama said he'll urge fast-tracking of the three-year, $1.4 billion Merida Initiative, a joint security plan between the United States, Mexico and other Latin American countries in which U.S. equipment, technology and expertise are used toward combating the drug trade.

Speaking to CNN en Español, Obama lauded Calderón as having done "an outstanding and heroic job in dealing with what is a big problem right now along the borders with the drug cartels."

Asked whether the United States is partly to blame for the violence along the border, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said, "there certainly is a relationship. You can't deny it."

In Mexico City on Thursday, she said, "What we're working to do is to work to stop the flow of guns and cash into Mexico that are helping fuel these cartels, but also we're working at the border to make sure that the spillover violence doesn't occur in our own cities and communities." Video Watch what Napolitano says about the U.S.-Mexico drug link »

Napolitano said the United States also must ensure that it is enforcing immigration laws on employers who "consistently go into that illegal labor market in order to exploit it."

E-verify, an electronic employment eligibility verification system, must be an integral part of immigration enforcement, she said.

Obama is to travel later in the week to the summit for meetings with Latin American leaders. While on the trip to Latin America, Obama said he seeks to engage in talks with the region's leaders as equals.

"Times have changed," Obama said Wednesday.

He refused to criticize the leaders of Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela, who have taken measures to change their constitutions to extend their holds on power. Video Watch as President Obama arrives in Mexico »

"I think it's important for the United States not to tell other countries how to structure their democratic practices and what should be contained in their constitutions," he said. "It's up to the people of those countries to make a decision about how they want to structure their affairs."

He said he believes that the United States has a leadership role to play in the region, but he qualified that role this way: "We also recognize that other countries have important contributions and insights."

He added, "We want to listen and learn as well as talk, and that approach, I think, of mutual respect and finding common interests, is one that ultimately will serve everybody."
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/16/ ... n.america/

More rumblings about guns being smuggled from the U.S. into Mexico. More misinformation about guns and misinterpretation of statistics in order to disarm the law-abiding citizens of the United States.

At least 4 out of 5 guns seized in Mexico are obviously not of U.S. origin. Of those that Mexican law enforcement sends to the U.S. for identification, about 90% are identifiable as coming from the U.S.. Therefore, only about 17% of guns seized in Mexico are from the U.S..

Why would Mexican outlaws and the drug cartels want U.S. single shot and semi-automatic rifles when they can buy automatic weapons like the AR-15 and the AK-47 from China and Central and South America? It doesn't even make sense.

Unless one doesn't think.

Disarming the citizenry didn't just begin with Hitler and the Third Reich. It goes back over three thousand years.

[In the days of Saul the King:]
Not a blacksmith could be found in the whole land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, "Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears!" So all Israel went down to the Philistines to have their plowshares, mattocks, axes and sickles sharpened. The price was two thirds of a shekel for sharpening plowshares and mattocks, and a third of a shekel for sharpening forks and axes and for repointing goads. - 1 Samuel 13:19-21

A heads up... in case you were not aware...

The NRA is giving FREE 1-yr memberships to everyone who wants to join, including spouses and children.

The NRA is building up membership in order to fight pending legislation that impacts our right to keep and bear arms.

https://www.nrahq.org/nrabonus/accept-membership.asp

It is very important that anti-gun congressmen see how many people they will have to fight to get their anti-2nd amendment legislation passed.

https://www.nrahq.org/nrabonus/accept-membership.asp

PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!

Courtesy of Harry Riley at Constitutional Emergency http://patriotsforamerica.ning.com