On "Gun Free" Mexico

Their strict laws that disarm the citizens don't seem to be stopping the violence:

According to Mexico's attorney general, 6,616 people died in drug-trafficking violence in Mexico last year.

A high percentage of those killed were themselves criminals, but many law enforcement agents battling organized crime were also murdered. The carnage continues. For the first 22 days of this year the body count is 354.

My emphasis. Taking guns away from the citizens does not make one bit of difference in the violence equation.

I do know that the media has been slurping up the BS that the ATF has been shoveling for sometime in regards to the preposterous idea that drug cartel members are sneaking across the border, illegally buying guns from gun shows, and sneaking back into Mexico to fight the government. This piece of fiction has been going on for some time, and I commented on it yesterday over at Snowflakes in Hell.

So just what kind of weapons are the cartel guy using? How about these:

A report by retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the former drug czar, makes similar observations. "The malignancy of drug criminality," he writes, "stretches throughout the U.S. in more than 295 cities." Gen. McCaffrey visited Mexico in December.

Here is how he sees the fight: "The outgunned Mexican law enforcement authorities face armed criminal attacks from platoon-sized units employing night vision goggles, electronic intercept collection, encrypted communications, fairly sophisticated information operations, sea-going submersibles, helicopters and modern transport aviation, automatic weapons, RPG's, Anti-Tank 66 mm rockets, mines and booby traps, heavy machine guns, 50 cal sniper rifles, massive use of military hand grenades, and the most modern models of 40mm grenade machine guns."

OK, night vision and encrypted communication equipment can be purchased readily almost anywhere in the world, but I don't see too many helicopters, submarines, mines, RPGs, anti-tank rockets, heavy machine guns, grenades, or 40mm grenades at gun shows. Actually, I've never seen any. Ever. One could find .50 caliber rifles at a gun show, but you have to pay a premium price for one, which tens of thousands of Americans happily do because they use them for fun, target shooting, competition, and hunting.

So in short, Mexican laws against civilians owning small arms is having no impact on the absurd amount of violence in the country, and it would seem likely that the government should be looking into it's own ranks to find out where the bombs, grenades, rocket launchers, and machine guns are coming from.