Only 17.63% of Firearms in Mexican Crimes Traced to USA

Only 17.63% of Firearms in Mexican Crimes Traced to USA

I know many of my readers don’t trust Fox news. So, I have pulled the relevant quotes from the article:

What’s true, an ATF spokeswoman told FOXNews.com, in a clarification of the statistic used by her own agency’s assistant director, “is that over 90 percent of the traced firearms originate from the U.S.”

“Not every weapon seized in Mexico has a serial number on it that would make it traceable, and the U.S. effort to trace weapons really only extends to weapons that have been in the U.S. market,” Matt Allen, special agent of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told FOX News.

In 2007-2008, according to ATF Special Agent William Newell, Mexico submitted 11,000 guns to the ATF for tracing. Close to 6,000 were successfully traced — and of those, 90 percent — 5,114 to be exact, according to testimony in Congress by William Hoover — were found to have come from the U.S.

But in those same two years, according to the Mexican government, 29,000 guns were recovered at crime scenes.

Now, let’s do the math. 5114 (the number of firearms traced to the USA)/ 29000 (the number of firearms “recovered”) X 100 (to give us a percentage) = 17.63%

The 17.63% number traced to the USA is a far cry from the 90% number given by several different sources. And, the question is, of that 18% (I’m being generous and rounding up), how many are actually obtained through legal purchases? I doubt the number (or percentage) is high. The simple fact is, why would the Mexican drug cartels spend over $600 for a semi-automatic clone of an AK47, when they can get a fully automatic AK47 from Central America for less?

I do not know why some politicians and reporters want to make it seem like we are the source of the weapons in Mexico, but I have my theories. What we need to do is let our elected representatives know that the numbers some people are giving are false. Let the media outlets know that we know that these numbers are false. The worst thing that could happen is legislative and law enforcement actions be taken based on these lies.