The Myth of 90 Percent

The Myth of 90 Percent is a editorial from Texas Fred's blog page. The blog is explaining that there has been a myth going around that some liberals and anti gun activist love to throw out there whenever possible. The whole myth is simply stating that 90 percent of the weapons used to commit crimes in Mexico come from the United States. The anti gun activists and some liberals heard this and just repeat it as if it were fact. It sort of took a somewhat of a snowball effect one person heard and never questioned the fact and people kept repeating it for the sake of their arguments against Americans owning guns. For example

– Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it to reporters on a flight to Mexico City.

– CBS newsman Bob Schieffer referred to it while interviewing President Obama.

– California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said at a Senate hearing: “It is unacceptable to have 90 percent of the guns that are picked up in Mexico and used to shoot judges, police officers and mayors … come from the United States.”

The fact of the matter is that the people have been a bit misled by the myth. The initial report of the "90 percent myth" was indeed stated by the ATF's assistant director of field operations, but the thing that is misleading is he was reporting on traced weapons. "But a large percentage of the guns recovered in Mexico do not get sent back to the U.S. for tracing, because it is obvious from their markings that they do not come from the U.S." "Not every weapon seized in Mexico has a serial number on it that would make it traceable, and the U.S. effort to trace weapons really only extends to weapons that have been in the U.S. market," Matt Allen, special agent of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told FOX News.

I think it goes without saying I agree with TexasFred, these skewed numbers really need to be heard. Unfortunately much of the news is liberally bias so I'm not holding my breath for that to happen.