Comments | marcus_sez_vote: South of the War Zone

marcus_sez_vote

South of the War Zone

Feb 26, 2009 10:26

Recently there was a crackdown on the Sinaloa cartel across the United States that resulted in 755 arrests. This pressure on the major drug cartels continues to mean they fight each other, and the Mexican authorities, ruthlessly. What's depressing is how Americans are not only the biggest market for the drugs, but we also blatantly arm the ( Read more... )

Comments 6

noradannan February 26 2009, 17:18:42 UTC

You might want to get tested for lyme's disease anyway, given aches and pains and the fact you larp. I got tested myself awhile ago, and it's good to get to write it off your list of worries.

Glad you're feeling better!

vyseryn February 26 2009, 20:37:03 UTC

It isn't like Mexican drug enforcers are going into gun stores and buying assault weapons. This is just a scare tactic of the gun control lobby. Drug cartels buy their weapons from arms dealers. Arms dealers will continue to supply advanced weaponry to drug dealers regardless of what the US gun laws are. Those weapons may be funneled into Mexico from the US, but, the legitimate gun dealer is not to blame.

evilmagnus February 26 2009, 22:01:22 UTC

Yeah, that's pretty much it.

Also, whilst I'm down with restrictions on certain types of weapons, the 'Assault Weapons Ban' was really stupid. Written by legislators who had no clue what a gun is. I could have a five-round semi-auto rifle (legal) and have it classified as an 'Assault Weapon' under the Clinton law just by fitting a pistol grip and a flash suppressor. Neither of those two options makes the gun any more deadly, but suddenly it's an Assault Weapon(tm) that will destroy society.

I know what they were going for, but it was just a very badly written law.

marcus_sez_vote February 26 2009, 22:36:01 UTC

Certainly there should be a better definition, but there can at least be some kind of effort in this direction. I'm more concerned about rate of fire, ammo capacity, ability to penetrate police/military body armor or vehicles and things like that. Style considerations that have no real impact are immaterial though likely very profitable.

Be well.

marcus_sez_vote February 26 2009, 22:30:43 UTC

No they're not going into the gun stores themselves. As the article says, they hire "clean" buyers to buy the guns for them. It's not like there's one supplier but a steady trickle of weapons over the border. I agree that a dedicated gun smuggler might be able to obtain weapons from elsewhere, but that adds steps to the process and cost, which would hamper the cartels further. Is an American "right" of gun ownership worth having Mexican police, military, and civilians killed nigh constantly? Frankly the American drug market is the reason for this violence spike (as well as the lack of viable employment for those people in Mexico and the corruption of Mexican governmental organizations). With some small changes we can at least seem like we consider their sacrifices in the drug war to be worthwhile ( ... )

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