Friday, April 17, 2009
Mexico assault weapons ban
Congress enacted a 10-year ban on assault weapons in 1994. In 2004 Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) proposed an extension that was voted down, 90 to 8. President Obama and Mexico President Felipe Calderón discussed the issue in their meeting in Mexico last week.
"We understand that this is politically very sensitive because we know the great esteem Americans have for their constitutional rights, especially those contained in the 2nd Amendment," Calderón said.
Mexican officials want the ban reenacted. The government has seized 16,000 assault weapons since December 2006 and The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says that the U.S. is the genesis of 90% of weapons seized in Mexico. Also, many of the guns are used by drug cartels for defense against officials.
The inability to own such assault weapons as AK-47s, Uzis and TEC-9s is a small price for the safety of Mexicans and Americans.
Some of the tragic national homicides resulted from assault weapons, like the Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings,and more than three cases of police shootings in the last four months. One hundred and sixty-three people have been killed and 185 wounded with military-style semiautomatic assault weapons,
A statistics report is available online at:
http://www.bradycenter.org/xshare/pdf/reports/mass-produced-mayhem.pdf
"We understand that this is politically very sensitive because we know the great esteem Americans have for their constitutional rights, especially those contained in the 2nd Amendment," Calderón said.
Mexican officials want the ban reenacted. The government has seized 16,000 assault weapons since December 2006 and The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says that the U.S. is the genesis of 90% of weapons seized in Mexico. Also, many of the guns are used by drug cartels for defense against officials.
The inability to own such assault weapons as AK-47s, Uzis and TEC-9s is a small price for the safety of Mexicans and Americans.
Some of the tragic national homicides resulted from assault weapons, like the Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings,and more than three cases of police shootings in the last four months. One hundred and sixty-three people have been killed and 185 wounded with military-style semiautomatic assault weapons,
A statistics report is available online at:
http://www.bradycenter.org/xshare/pdf/reports/mass-produced-mayhem.pdf
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