The surge of illegal guns in Mexico...

Once again, here is another American article claiming that there is unstoppable flow of guns coming into Mexico. A fair number of these weapons (the dreaded 90% "fact" is being thrown around again) are apparently coming from the U.S. where it is "easy to buy 9mm handguns and .50 caliber sniper rifles capable of shooting down helicopters." Obviously the author of this Washington Post article is unfamiliar with American gun law, and just how difficult it is to acquire military grade weapons, especially when particular military weapons -- such as the automatic assault rifle or .50 caliber rifle -- can't be legally sold in most states.

The article goes on to talk about eTrace -- a program that allows officials to track the origins of a weapons by imputing information (such as make, model, and serial number) into a database. This program was given to the Mexican government by the ATF a few years back, but Federales have spent most of their time trying to translate the software into Spanish, thus proving it has been a waste of time and money. In addition, and rather unfortunately, the author and the creator of the program negate the "common sense" fact that most firearms used by criminals no longer have their serial numbers, thus making it nearly impossible to trace them. Furthermore, only legally manufactured weapons have serial numbers, and thus the program would do little trace firearms assembled from multiple kits or manufactured abroad/illegally.

The situation involving firearm trafficking in Mexico is not black and white. There are no clear cut answers, as no easy remedy will be found that will permanently eliminate illegal weapons trafficking. Furthermore, it is important for American and Mexican officials to remember that the leaders of dreaded DTO's are extremely well trained and educated, and therefore, should not be underestimated.