While reporting on the ongoing drug war in Mexico, CBS, NBC, and ABC have all cited a dubious statistic that claims that 90% of the guns being used in the violence are from the United States. On Thursday’s CBS Evening News, correspondent Bill Plante reported: "Mexican drug gang violence spilling into the U.S. is the urgent issue of President Obama's visit...A major sore point -- more than 90% of the weapons which could be traced were bought legally in the U.S. and smuggled into Mexico by the cartels."
On Thursday’s NBC Nightly News, White House correspondent Chuck Todd declared: "In a joint press conference following their private meeting, President Obama acknowledged that 90 percent of the guns used by the drug cartels in this war with Mexico come from the United States." On Thursday’s Good Morning America on ABC, co-host Diane Sawyer referenced, and even further embellished, the figure while interviewing Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano: "95 percent of the guns used were out of the United States. What is the U.S. going to do to stop the guns from getting there?"
However, on April 2, Fox News reported that 90% figure to be inaccurate: "The fact is, only 17 percent of guns found at Mexican crime scenes have been traced to the U.S. 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.’ But a large percentage of the guns recovered in Mexico do not get sent back to the U.S. for tracing, because it is obvious from their markings that they do not come from the U.S." The network reports failed to explain those details.
NBC cited the statistic as early as March 25, when correspondent Andrea Mitchell reported on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Mexico: "Sixty percent of the drugs in the US come from Mexico, a $38-billion-a-year industry. But 90 percent of the cartel's guns come from the US." She mentioned it again the following morning, March 26, on Today: "Ninety percent of the guns used by the [Mexican drug] gangs come from the U.S., including the powerful assault weapons that were banned until Congress and the Bush White House let the ban expire."
NBC did cast some doubt on the statistic on the April 14 Nightly News, when correspondent Mark Potter explained: "The issue of American guns arming the Mexican traffickers has sparked a political controversy. The National Rifle Association says the problem has been exaggerated to support more gun control." He quoted National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre: "These big gun cartels in Mexico are not smuggling their guns from the United States. They're getting them through Central America. They're getting them through the shoreline in Mexico. They're buying them on the illegal black market."
On Thursday’s CBS Evening News, just prior to Bill Plante’s report, anchor Katie Couric introduced another statistic: "President Obama flew south of the border today to address a growing threat to U.S. security -- Mexico's drug war. Already this year, more than 2,600 people have been murdered by the drug cartels there. The violence is fueled by more than 2,000 guns smuggled in from the United States every day. Today, Mr. Obama promised a new crackdown." Couric provided no source for the figure, but it apparently came from a study issued by the left-leaning Brookings Institution in November of 2008. The Brookings statistic was also used by Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin as a talking point in March.
—Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.
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Citizen Obama
April 17, 2009 - 14:21 ET by allanfWelcome to television. Facts don't matter. A faux statistic is fine if it advances the proper cause.
We all need to watch Citizen Kane again. The news has gotten worse.
It's about blame
April 17, 2009 - 14:24 ET by ArcherBOf course facts don't matter. Nothing matters as long as America gets the blame. That is the goal!
"To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary."
--Ernesto "Che" Guevara
It isn't accurate...
April 18, 2009 - 00:54 ET by Jen7according to Factcheck.org. Good site.
As you may presently yourself be fully made aware of, my grammar sucks.
Family Guy
The Obama Misinstry of Propaganda says...
April 17, 2009 - 14:34 ET by Army Brat" 90% of the guns being used in the violence are from the United States."
Joseph Goebbels...Tell a lie often enough and it becomes the truth....
islam is a lie and Truth is killing it.
Newspeak
April 17, 2009 - 15:50 ET by Old SaltThe president used that stat in his speech, so it is, in fact, the new truth.
why waste time with actual facts..
April 17, 2009 - 15:15 ET by clinging to my guns and my religion...when reporting lies pushes your agenda so much faster?
"i believe he will not stop until we are all jobless, homeless, hungry, and cold!"
The most telling point on
April 17, 2009 - 15:30 ET by BDThe most telling point on this story is that when the Mexican Government makes use of a static display to show off this hardware that the Drug Cartels are using, it is usually impressively arrayed with gear impossible to acquire in the US.
The Press claims that most of the guns are acquired at Gun shows across the south, but I have attended some of these and have NEVER seen a box of euopean manufactured rifle grenades for sale at one.
Nor have I seen actual fragmentation grenades which are ubiquitous in these displays.
Boxes of SKS Carbines lined up several table lengths? Unlikely to be purchased in large lots in the US but easily obtainable directly from NORINCO in China who will sell both SKS and AK series rifles in large lots no questions asked.
Couple that with the fact that the Mexican Government cannot seem to keep its hardware in its own armories witness its use to cross the US border in the Southwest on a frequent basis leads one to the standard conclusion. Graft is STILL rampant in Mexico and endemic to its population. Rather than 90% of the weapons coming from the US, it is more likely 90% come from the Mexican Army.
Excuse me Senor Bandido
April 17, 2009 - 15:32 ET by Ozark_Sunshine"May I stop you and check the serial number, make and model on your gun?" This shows how stupid the mainstream media is and why they are losing numbers of viewers because they have no credibility. That's what happens when you hire leftists bimbos for looks who can't think, much less have an origianl thought.
An Insult to Cartel Leaders
April 17, 2009 - 16:11 ET by allanfThe statement is an insult to Cartel leaders. People smart enough to smuggle billions worth of drugs into the United States are smart enough to purchase weapons on the international arms market. Why would anyone undertake one by one purchases requring ID?
90% of guns THAT CAN BE TRACED
April 17, 2009 - 15:48 ET by freecitizenThe take-away lesson here is that apparently the US is the only one making weapons that are traceable. Well, good on us!
Besides, given the millions of Mexicans that are living here, legally or otherwise, who are constantly sending or carrying money and goods back to Mexico, it seems obvious. I don't know for sure but I imagine we are their largest trading partner and I know that their domestic industry is lacking so again it only seems obvious and to be expected.
It is already illegal, so I don't know why they think adding additional laws will change it. It's not as if they are placing orders at the factory. There will always be a black market for banned goods.
Liberal: remove all that's Right, and this is what's Left.
Actually read the statistic!!
April 17, 2009 - 21:43 ET by ConservativeMissourianExactly!!! So, all that statement really says is that the United States is the only one concerned with / capable of making their guns traceable. Until - the media spins it around and somehow makes that a bad thing that they can come back on gun producers with.
Luaghable
April 17, 2009 - 16:04 ET by AuH2oI briefly overheard that segment of the CBS news last night with Mz. Perky, as my kid was channel surfing.
Wow, she really gives dumb blonds a bad name. Apologises to dumb blondes everywhere.
The pictures with her commentary are hilarious. Is that a pair of .30 or .50 calibre machine guns in the forefront?
Guess those can be purchased at the weekend gun show at the fairgrounds. Or, possibly from the same guy that sells $50 home theatre sound systems and velvet paintings, from his car trunk out in the parking lot.
Katie Lied.
April 17, 2009 - 16:08 ET by mattmKatie Lied.
So,
April 17, 2009 - 16:12 ET by UpNorthPerky says that 3/4 of a million guns are smuggled in to Mexico every year? That explains why guns and ammo are in short supply, virtually everywhere? What a maroon, what an ignoranus. And the misspelling is intentional.
The Lame Stream Media won't be happy until every gun-owner is disarmed and the "O" is installed as emperor.
Hell, we havea normal story
April 17, 2009 - 17:15 ET by BDHell, we havea normal story about every six months of some poor guy who is travelling to Puerto Penasco to hit the beach who is arrested by the Federales because he has a single .22 calibur Bullet in the bed of his pickup.
Normally, it is simply a shakedown where the attourney General of Sonora keeps him on ice until his family back in the states can arrange a payoff.
Mexico, a dirty corrupt little third world country.....
BD... That it is...the
April 17, 2009 - 17:24 ET by bigtimerBD...
That it is...the story I could tell about our son and daughter-in-law and her Aunt that went there for a funeral is very upsetting/outrageous...spooky, border-line terrifying...
I worried about them going then, they ended up being founded, thank God they are home....but pay-offs are a dime a dozen.
Talk about profiling...
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
90% of Mexico is in the
April 17, 2009 - 17:08 ET by mostlymoderate90% of Mexico is in the United States!!!!! Illegally!
NPR fact checks itself correct on 90%
April 17, 2009 - 18:50 ET by andrew - des moinesNPR had a segment on today about this and determined that they were probably about right with the 90% figure. They mention the Fox News report, but the fact checking guest from some website claims that while the figure is unknown, 90% is probably close to true and far closer than 17%. The whole thing comes off as if NPR was saying, "We were right all along, even if we came to the figure for the wrong reasons. And don't believe what Fox News is feeding you." Our tax -- make that our children's tax dollars -- at work.
P.S. to the site administrator: You got snippy with me last time I posted here about some HTML code that appeared. I believe that was from when I copied from MS Word into here. It would be nice if you included spell checking in your interface.
Spell Check
April 17, 2009 - 23:47 ET by JustAlAndrew,
As an SCG (spelling challenged guy) I recommend the google tool bar free download which has a spell checker built in which works on any site you are typing on.
Regards,
The Mexican president and
April 17, 2009 - 19:24 ET by BamaRebel2009The Mexican president and others always say that the reason for the drug cartels violence is because of the American people's drug use. They insinuate that it's America's fault because we consume about 70%-90% of the cartels drugs and that their wouldn't be a problem if Americans would quit using drugs.
Using their logic, shouldn't we blame Mexico and their drug cartels' firearms use for the so-called 90% of American weapons being sent to Mexico???
In othr words, it's America fault for the drug problem and they should say it's Mexico's fault for the firearms problem!!!! But that would be politically-incorrect to blame someone other than America for a problem. La Raza and the Hispanic advocacy groups would get their panties in a wad and start crying to the media about being unfairly portrayed.
"2,000 guns smuggled in from the United States every day"
April 18, 2009 - 11:01 ET by fastfood"2,000 guns smuggled in from the United States every day" would be enough weapons to arm every man, woman and child in Mexico in just over five months.
https://www.cia.gov/...
So now it's all confirmed,
June 5, 2009 - 06:53 ET by GordmanSo now it's all confirmed, the guns for drug cartels come from America, what next? This situation has been the same for a long time now, how do we change it? Things in Mexico heat up by the month and I am not optimistic for the future.
Gordman, California Drug Rehab Center
I would dispute your
June 5, 2009 - 17:49 ET by BDI would dispute your finding that the weaponry comes primarily from the US.
From the imagery I have seen regarding the arms seizures done by the Mexicans, the hardware displayed would be characterized as "near Impossible" to purchase on the US market.
Most of he photos show items such as Rifle grenades produced by the South Koreans etc which I have NO IDEA where to purchase outside of smuggling them out of South Korea. These items are as illegal in the US as they are in mexico but they are still on display. Thus, we can assume they were smuggled into Mexico vice the US as there is no point in smuggling into the tightest community in the US when MEXICO is parked right next door and is effectively open to any and all graft.
BD is uninformed
June 5, 2009 - 17:54 ET by Sergeant ROCKDon't you know that you can buy live grenades at any gun show, pawn shop or 7-11 here in the U.S.?
"I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them."
George Mason
BD... FBI says about 15%
June 5, 2009 - 17:58 ET by Clear thinkerBD...
FBI says about 15% of weapons going to Mexico are smuggled in from the USA.
http://iamnotaracist.wordpress.com/