Fox News is Catching up With Bloggers on the American Gunz in Mexico Farce

And it is about time.

From Fox News:

By William La Jeunesse and Maxim Lott

The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S.

EXCLUSIVE: You've heard this shocking "fact" before -- on TV and radio, in newspapers, on the Internet and from the highest politicians in the land: 90 percent of the weapons used to commit crimes in Mexico come from the United States.

-- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it to reporters on a flight to Mexico City.

-- CBS newsman Bob Schieffer referred to it while interviewing President Obama.

-- California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said at a Senate hearing: "It is unacceptable to have 90 percent of the guns that are picked up in Mexico and used to shoot judges, police officers and mayors ... come from the United States."

-- William Hoover, assistant director for field operations at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, testified in the House of Representatives that "there is more than enough evidence to indicate that over 90 percent of the firearms that have either been recovered in, or interdicted in transport to Mexico, originated from various sources within the United States."

There's just one problem with the 90 percent "statistic" and it's a big one:

It's just not true.

In fact, it's not even close. The fact is, only 17 percent of guns found at Mexican crime scenes have been traced to the U.S....

Only 17% traced to the United States. I wonder how many of those 17% went South across the border illegally, and how many were legally sold by American companies to the Mexican military and various police forces?

So where are the guns used by the cartels coming from?

So, if not from the U.S., where do they come from? There are a variety of sources:

-- The Black Market. Mexico is a virtual arms bazaar, with fragmentation grenades from South Korea, AK-47s from China, and shoulder-fired rocket launchers from Spain, Israel and former Soviet bloc manufacturers.

-- Russian crime organizations. Interpol says Russian Mafia groups such as Poldolskaya and Moscow-based Solntsevskaya are actively trafficking drugs and arms in Mexico.

- South America. During the late 1990s, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) established a clandestine arms smuggling and drug trafficking partnership with the Tijuana cartel, according to the Federal Research Division report from the Library of Congress.

-- Asia. According to a 2006 Amnesty International Report, China has provided arms to countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Chinese assault weapons and Korean explosives have been recovered in Mexico.

-- The Mexican Army. More than 150,000 soldiers deserted in the last six years, according to Mexican Congressman Robert Badillo. Many took their weapons with them, including the standard issue M-16 assault rifle made in Belgium.

-- Guatemala. U.S. intelligence agencies say traffickers move immigrants, stolen cars, guns and drugs, including most of America's cocaine, along the porous Mexican-Guatemalan border. On March 27, La Hora, a Guatemalan newspaper, reported that police seized 500 grenades and a load of AK-47s on the border. Police say the cache was transported by a Mexican drug cartel operating out of Ixcan, a border town.

It is nice to see a major news network finally shining a light on the facts about the firearms in use by the Mexican Drug Gangs. Gun bloggers have been on the case for quite awhile, my first post in the issue was last June.

Read the whole article, it is well worth your while.

H/T to Fred, who sent me an email linking to this article and his comments earlier today.

Also commenting on this news article are:

FireHand with The Mexican Gun Lie is finally being talked about as such.

Syd has Your Nose Is Growing: The 90% Myth.

Sebastian chims in with Media Gets it Right.

Thirdpower notes that Fox News calls out the Mexico Gun Myth.

45superman headlines Mexico: the big lie.

David has a must read article, Do U.S. government arms exports play a part in arming Mexican cartels?, that I believe hit the press near the same time as the Fox News one did.

Uncle notes that the 90% Myth Makes News.

David notices that Yesterday it was a Priority. Today it's a Red Herring.

Rustmeister goes long with The US, Mexico, and Guns - Updated by Fox News, another good read you should check out.

So why the near year long media blitz on the whole "Americans are supplying guns to the Mexican Drug Gangs" meme? The media blitz over all the supposed American guns making their way into Mexican Gangbanger hands has been a well orchestrated publicity stunt. The purpose behind all this media coverage that plays fast and loose with the facts is to soften up the public and garner acceptance to more restrictive gun control laws that include an AWB and an end to private sales of firearms.

Note that this push to blame the violence and deaths South of our border on American guns started well before the elections. The ATF has been leading the charge on this misinformation campaign that remains in force through a leadership change. Maximum Mike got it started, Eric Holder continues the ruse.