Mexico's lawsuit against the firearms industry was before the Supreme Court recently, where things didn't seem to go well for Mexico. Their claims hinge on a few different things, all of which have no resemblance to how the firearm industry actually works. In truth, the lawsuit should never have gotten that far.
I've long argued that even if we plug the pipeline into Mexico, the nation's issues aren't about guns. It's about the demand for guns from the cartels. They'll find other sources...and they have.
A recent piece highlights that the cartels aren't just getting guns from the United States, unlike Mexico and the media seem to suggest.
lternate Sources for Arms
There are, however, more puzzle pieces in the picture.
A retired Drug Enforcement Administration agent, Wesley Tabor, tells the Sun that “cartels also obtain weapons from Central America and corrupt military sources with near impunity.”
Intelligence sources in Mexico also tell the Sun that while United States-sourced firearms dominate cartel arsenals, a growing supply of weapons is flowing from elsewhere.
Smugglers are tapping into Central and South America routes, with bulk shipments coming from Nicaragua and other Latin American countries. Eastern Europe, Russia, China, and even parts of the Middle East have also become sources, as criminal groups diversify supply lines to evade increased scrutiny at Mexico’s northern border.
Additionally, clandestine workshops across Mexico are using sophisticated Computer Numerical Control machines to manufacture firearm components, further complicating efforts to stem the flow of illicit arms. Tepito, Mexico City’s notorious black market, has emerged as the country’s largest hub for underground weapons distribution, fueled by imports from Colombia, Spain, and Pakistan.
Mr. Thomas underscored that “most of the weapons are either coming from Mexico’s own military—where they’re legally purchased but then either sold or lost track of—or from the U.S. via South America.”
“It’s a pretty complicated process, and the corruption on both sides makes it hard to trace,” he continued.
According to one United States official, who requested only to speak on background, “Mexico uses the fact that guns come from the U.S., and the money gets laundered back into Mexico to leverage the U.S.”
Nothing about this is surprising, really.
Mexico has long had a corruption problem, as has most of South America. Bribes are common so it's not a stretch to believe someone is selling government weapons to the cartels.
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Smith & Wesson, along with other manufacturers being sued by Mexico, maintain they can't be held responsible because they're not selling to anyone known to them to be a problem. They generally sell to distributors, who then sell to gun stores, who then sell to individuals. They have no access to tracing data to see if a particular gun store is doing a bad job of vetting its customers or anything of the sort, and since they're not selling directly to them in the first place, it's not on them.
Distributors, for the record, also don't have source data.
But the fact that so many other guns are coming from South America, the Mexican government, European and Middle Eastern nations, and illicit workshops makes it clear that Mexico's problems have nothing to do with the United States.
The cartels are going to get guns no matter what you do.
Mexico, if they're serious about ending the cartel violence, needs to recognize this fact.
They won't.
