| | |  Editorials | February 2009 
Slowing the Flow of Guns into Mexico
 Austin American-Statesman
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 |  | As some folks love to say: What part of illegal is hard to understand? |  | | |
For years, Mexican government officials have been asking for help in stemming the flow of illegal weapons into Mexico. While narcotics flow north, guns flow south, arming the cartels responsible for the drug trade.
Texas, particularly Houston, is a top source for arms moving south that eventually end up in the hands of the Mexican drug gangs. Narcotics traffickers use the weapons to kill rivals, police, journalists and civilians who get in the way.
Stemming the flow of the arms alone will not end the demand for drugs on this side of the border any more than it will stop the violence that the drug trade spawns, but is a necessary approach toward a solution.
The Obama administration has taken a small step toward assisting the Mexican government's attempts to defang the drug cartels by including $10 million in the stimulus package to interdict illegal gun shipments to Mexico. Mexican analysts understand full well the potential backlash from gun rights advocates by pushing an overly aggressive enforcement effort.
So the dance is a delicate one. U.S. officials also understand the peril posed by well-armed, well-financed drug gangs who respect no laws and no borders. The violence spawned by the drug trade has already spilled across the border, putting U.S. lives in the cross hairs — literally — of the drug gangs.
Doing nothing is always an option, but not a particularly effective one.
As we have said repeatedly, there is no single or simple cure for the problems arising out of the lucrative drug trade. Advocates of legalizing drugs say their way would do it, but their way is not practical politically.
At $10 million, the arms interdiction effort is an expensive gesture but a necessary one. The administration should not let the effort get hijacked by opponents who would frame this as a gun rights issue. It is not. It is an effort aimed at stopping the illegal flow of guns that empower vicious gangs of criminals who kill people. As some folks love to say: What part of illegal is hard to understand? |
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