Thread: We help export the tools used to fuel the Mexican drug wars

No matter how terrifying the reports of kidnappings, shootings and the escalating murder rate on both sides of the border with Mexico, the United States can't claim clean hands.



Within the last year over 6,000 Mexicans have been killed. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives estimates 90 percent of the firearms confiscated in drug crimes in Mexico come from the U.S.

No wonder universities are passing along State Department travel warnings to college students about sharply increased crime in Tijuana, Juarez and Nogales, where there have been shootouts during the daytime in public areas. Criminals follow and harass Americans driving in border areas.

Americans worried about illegal immigration are quick to lambaste the Mexican government for its long history of irresponsible fiscal management has led millions of its citizens to forsake family and risk harrowingly dangerous journeys to find illegal work in the U.S.

But in truth -- myopic weapons possessions laws and under-funded enforcement in the towns dotting the border -- provide the cause and effect that emboldens cartels to expand their reach here. The U.S. Justice Department predicts that Mexican drug traffickers have strongholds in at least 230 cities.

Last month Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano issued what amounted to a "get out" order for criminal illegal immigrants. She wants federal immigration officials to know whether an inmate is in the country illegally immediately after being processed into a detention facility and to track so they can be deported after serving their sentence.

That admirable plan will fail if we can't deal more effectively with a ravenous appetite for illegal drugs and misdirected gun ownership priorities that turn a blind eye to the resulting costs of weapons smuggling.


http://www.delawareonline.com/article/2 ... 04/OPINION

No it is the American government permitting this not the people.