Felipe Calderon and CNN Continue to Lie About Sources of Drug Cartel Weapons

Opinion

Felipe Calderón unveils the 'No More Weapons' advertising board. Photograph: Reuters
Felipe Calderón unveils the ‘No More Weapons’ advertising board. Photograph: Reuters

Manasquan, NJ –-(Ammoland.com)- CNN is reporting on comments made by Mexican President Felipe Calderon at the debut of a sign on the South-West Border that says ” NO MORE WEAPONS” facing in the direction of the US.

Continuing the long discredited lie that was first floated several years ago and more recently suggested as the base reason for Fast & Furious an overtly attempted effort by the highest levels of various agencies of the The US Government ( ATF, FBI , DHS , ICE) to prop up the bold face lie that US Guns are the cause of Mexico’s descent into chaos.

CNN could not help themselves and included in the coverage of Calderon this quote stating that “84,000 high powered assualt weapons have been seized” since he began his Presidency.

This figure and anything remotely close to it was proven years ago to be a complete and utter fabrication, a deliberate effort from a Foreign Leader and numerous high profile officials in the Obama Administration, such as Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder, President Obama and others to drive up domestic support for Gun Control.

The facts are only roughly 12 percent of the guns recovered at crime scenes in Mexico are even submitted for tracing to US Officials. And when they are traced successfully, the actual number of firearms flowing to Mexico from Stateside sources are approximately 8,000 total, despite the best efforts of the Obama Administration to artificially inflate those numbers even more via Operation Fast and Furious.

In CNN’s coverage was not a single mention about the complicity of US Officials actively arming the Drug Cartels, not a word from Calderon or CNN about the diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks that show:

“The most fearsome weapons wielded by Mexico’s drug cartels enter the country from Central America, not the United States, according to U.S. diplomatic cables disseminated by WikiLeaks and published here Tuesday by La Jornada newspaper.”

That inventory includes grenades and rocket launchers, necessary items for beating the Mexican army.

This corroborates an LA Times report from early 2009, which cataloged “hand grenades, grenade launchers, armor-piercing munitions and antitank rockets…” as part of the cartel’s high powered arsenal.

The Obama administration still blames American gun owners, by asserting that American guns “fuel” Mexico’s drug war. Even President Obama himself asserts: “More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States.”

Not so much as a single sentence about the US Government sanctioned sales of weapons to the Mexican Military and Federales, sales approved by the US State Dept ( Hillary Clinton) to the Mexican government whose members routinely defect to work for the Drug Cartels with disturbing regularity, taking their military hardware with them when they go.

Yet the U.S. Gov has approved the sale of more guns to Mexico in recent years than ever before through a program called “direct commercial sales.” It’s a program that some say is worse than the highly-criticized “Fast and Furious” gunrunning scandal, where U.S. agents allowed thousands of weapons to pass from the U.S. to Mexican drug cartels.

CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson discovered that the official tracking all those guns sold through “direct commercial sales” leaves something to be desired.

One weapon – an AR-15-type semi-automatic rifle – tells the story. In 2006, this same rifle was – tracked by serial number – as being legally sold by a U.S. manufacturer to the Mexican military. Three years later – it’s found in a criminal stash in a region wracked by Mexican drug cartel violence.

That prompted a “sensitive” cable, uncovered by WikiLeaks, dated June 4, 2009, in which the U.S. State Department asked Mexico “how the AR-15” – meant only for the military or police – was “diverted” into criminal hands. And, more importantly, where the other rifles from the same shipment went: “Please account for the current location of the 1,030 AR-15 type rifles,” reads the cable.

There’s no response in the record.

The problem of weapons legally sold to Mexico – then diverted to violent cartels – is becoming more urgent. That’s because the U.S. has quietly authorized a massive escalation in the number of guns sold to Mexico through “direct commercial sales.” It’s a way foreign countries can acquire firearms faster and with less disclosure than going through the Pentagon.

Here’s how it works: A foreign government fills out an application to buy weapons from private gun manufacturers in the U.S. Then the State Department decides whether to approve or disprove of the shipment outside the USA.

And it did approve 2,476 guns to be sold to Mexico in 2006. In 2009, that number was up nearly 10 times, to 18,709. The State Department has since stopped disclosing numbers of guns it approves, and wouldn’t give CBS News figures for 2010 or 2011.

International Black Market Arms Sales
There’s another source, rarely mentioned by the media, and a much more likely source of the Drug Cartels weapons. Third World Black Market Sales.

The Drug Cartels are a multi billion dollar a year industry, with international contacts of all kinds, including banking, smuggling, shipping, terrorism and most certainly underground weapons dealer’s.

Even if you discount all of the other documented sources of the Cartels weapons in favor of buying the “Its US Gun Laws and Sellers Faults”  line peddled by Calderon, Obama, Eric Holder, Members of Congress, an assortment of Gun Control Groups and the vast majority of the media; that would mean you having to believe the following.

That the Cartels, with nearly limitless resources and international contacts:

  • Prefer to send individuals or small groups of operatives across the US Border illegally
  • Go to US Gun Shops to purchase semi automatic only firearms ( not machine guns, grenades, RPG’s and other assorted heavy weapons that are always strategically placed on tables for photo ops )
  • Take the risk of being denied or discovered during the mandatory Federal background check required at all gun shops
  • Successfully clear that hurdle, then risk further discovery, arrest and confiscation on their way back to Mexico with their ill gotten gains.

As opposed to reaching out to their International Third World contacts and ordering up an untraceable shipping container of true military firepower, at a fraction of the cost of retail prices in the US and have that shipment delivered right to their door steps with a few well placed bribes to the right people in Mexican Customs, an agency of a National Government where corruption at all levels is essentially a national pastime and very nearly openly acknowledged as the way things are done.

Given the information presented here, which seems more plausible ?

That the Cartels are getting their weapons from legitimate US Gun shops, thus as Eric Holder says, we simply must re instate the so called ” Assault Weapons Ban “, which, by the way, never never had any effect what-so-ever on violent crime rates.

Or is it significantly more likely that the vast majority of weapons are coming from anywhere else BUT US Gun Shops?

Calderon’s statements, and CNN’s slipshod reporting of them masquerading as “news” speaks quite well to exactly what I said in an article a few days ago about the concept of ” The Great Lie “ being actively practiced with great aplomb and zero consequences in what passes for “news ” these days.

And I wont even get into the firestorm of outrage that would occur if anyone, let alone the US President placed a sign on the US side of the border stating ” No More Illegal Immigrants

Calderon needs to stop lying, stop financing efforts by US law firms to sue gun manufacturers and dealers in US Courts and start worrying about his own domestic problems instead of constantly blaming the US for his own Countries dismal condition.


About Dan Roberts

More articles, commentary and information by D. Roberts available at ThatEveryManBeArmed.com

Dan Roberts

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Robert Krawiec

If they get their weapons from the U.S. private gunshops, who sells grenade launchers because that would be handy to have. If you think FFL dealers are suppling these weapons, your stupider than the government hopes you are. Holder should be hung for treason and Obama impeached.

Bill in Lexington,NC

Birds of that feather should hang together. Instead, Holder got a cushy job with the NFL and Obama (may) be on his way to the Supreme Court.

STOP HILLARY

Kim Ball

Great article Dan! You are such a gift to the firearm community with your common sense approach and witty musings…

I am assuming that since criminals have already shown such a high regard for "gun free zones" this billboard will make a marked difference in the number of firearms going into Mexico.

Man, that is one expensive "gun free zone" sign.