More Confirmation of Mexican Gun Disinformation

As if the Fox report wasn't damning enough, ABC's San Diego affiliate, Channel 10 did an investigative report on the source of firearms in Tia Juana.

What they found was that many of the actual assault weapons, that is military rifles that can fire fully-automatically, were from the US. Now the implication that they are from gun shops or shows is not true if you know the Federal Firearms Laws. 18 U.S.C. 922(o)(2), 27 CFR 479.105(e) says

Machine guns lawfully possessed prior to May 19, 1986. A
machine gun possessed in compliance with the provisions of this part prior to May 19, 1986, may continue to be lawfully possessed by the person to whom the machine gun is registered and may, upon compliance with the provisions of this part, be lawfully transferred to and possessed by the transferee. (ibid)

There is a separate license per gun an owner needs to get, and then only if the state in which they live allows ownership of fully automatic firearms.

Now with respect to newer -- post 1986 -- fully automatic firearms (machine guns),

Importation and manufacture. Subject to compliance with the provisions of this part, importers and manufacturers qualified under this part may import and manufacture machine guns on or after May 19, 1986, for sale or distribution to any department or agency of the United States or any State or political subdivision thereof, or for use by dealers qualified under this part as sales samples as provided in paragraph (d) of this section. The registration of such machine guns under this part and their subsequent transfer shall be conditioned upon and restricted to the sale or distribution of such weapons for the official use of Federal, State or local governmental entities. Subject to compliance with the provisions of this part, manufacturers qualified under this part may manufacture machine guns on or after May 19, 1986, for exportation in compliance with the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2778) and regulations prescribed thereunder by the Department of State. (ibid)

Translation? If you aren't the military (the institution, not a person), government or law enforcement, you can't have anything manufactured in the last 23 years.

So where is this stuff coming from? US. I don't me "us", I mean the US government.

• We supply guns to the Mexican Army to fight the drug cartels.
• A nice Mexican guy joins the Army and gets shipped north to fight the cartel.
• Same nice guy gets approached by a cartel member and gets an offer of cash or the life of his family to desert and bring his guns with him.
• Cartel gets guns.

Again, the idea that one of us could go to a border state, walk into a gun show or shop and buy a belt-fed .50 caliber machine gun is just not true.

I'm a believer in Civil Rights. We should respect the rights outlined in the Bill of Rights. However, before an elected Public Servant suggests limiting civil rights, it should be based on facts and not lies.

Finally, a note on the closing of the piece by the Channel 10 commentator.

10News provided several serial from various weapons to the ATF and other U.S. agencies in an effort to track the origin of those weapons. So far, 10News' requests have either been denied or there has been no response.

This is because of the provision of the "Tiahrt Amendment" which prohibits access to individual gun trace data or any group other than law enforcement.

We'll discuss Tiahrt at a later date.....