Interesting new take on fast and furious...

[CosmicCowboy]

That can't be.

Guns are illegal in Mexico!

[boutons_deux]

Mapping the Sale of Firearms vs. Frappuccinos




The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives reports that

64,747 licensed gun dealers

(defined here as gun shops, pawnbrokers, or individual sellers) existed in the U.S. as of December 2015. But that raw number alone might not mean much to you. So a new mapping project by data viz company 1point21 Interactive tries to contextualize this number by comparing it to something all Americans know exists in abundance: Starbucks.

”Looking at the Federal Firearms License data, the first question I asked myself was, ‘Is that a lot—it sounds like a lot?’” Brian Beltz, who helped put the project together, tells CityLab. “That's why we chose to compare it to something that everyone knows and has a reputation of being on every corner.”

In their analysis, Beltz and colleagues found that there were

six gun dealers in the U.S for every Starbucks (of which there are 10,843, according to 2013 data).

Gun sellers also outnumber grocery stores (37,716 in 2014),

McDonald’s (14,350 in 2014), and

total coffee shops (55,246 in 2016) in the U.S.

If gun collectors, manufacturers, and importers were all counted as gun dealers, the total number balloons to 138,659—far more than, say, the number of public schools in the country (98,328 in 2011-12).

http://www.citylab.com/crime/2016/01...rbucks/423801/

And every single one of these gun dealers is scrupulously careful of who he sells to.

"fast and furious" ?

[rmt]

Off-topic: why do people go to Starbucks? I can buy ORGANIC coffee at my local supermarket (I buy whenever it's buy one get one free) for so cheap compared to what Starbucks charges. I guess it's social? My brother's girlfriend works as a manager there (can you imagine only $10 per hour for a manager) and she says Starbucks spend more on healthcare than on coffee.

[TheSanityAnnex]

Gun Control 2016: Mexican Drug Cartels Are Using Firearms Purchased Legally In The US

Guns purchased legally in the U.S. don’t end up only in the hands of American criminals; they may also be finding their way into the possession of Mexican drug trafficking organizations.

Guns bought mostly in the Southwest United States account for roughly 70 percent of the weapons seized in Mexico from 2009 through 2014, a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office says.

The report comes as the United States grapples with a national debate over gun control while mass shootings take place on an almost regular basis. President Barack Obama and the Democrats looking to replace him in 2017 have called for comprehensive firearm controls to be passed in Congress, but Republicans have firmly pushed back on the grounds that doing so would violate Second Amendment rights.

The GAO report relied on data analyzed year by year in which the Justice Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms traced weapons confiscated in Mexico back to their origins. Most of the guns were purchased legally at gun shows or gun shops in the U.S. before being brought south. The smugglers have also been complicating the tracing ability for investigators, who said the weapons are often being broken down into parts before being smuggled into Mexico.

Obama has repeatedly addressed the issue of gun control as president, though it was not until last week that he exercised his executive authority to expand background check requirements. Even with that action, and therecent avowal from U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to ensure that those executive actions last beyond his presidency, many have said that his actions aren’t enough in the long run.

A recent poll shows that the majority of Americans support stricter measures.

http://www.ibtimes.com/gun-control-2...lly-us-2266128

Why must you always post articles that grossly misrepresent the facts? They even link the actual GOA report they misrepresent for s sake. "According to data from the Department of Justice's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), 73,684 firearms (about 70 percent) seized in Mexico and traced from 2009 to 2014 originated in the United States"

There is a huge difference between guns seized in Mexico and guns seized in traced. You lie and your article lies.

For example:

"And Mexico recovers a lot more guns than it submits to the U.S. In December 2008, Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora put the number of recovered crime weapons in the country over the past two years at nearly 29,000, according to USA Today. And figures given by ATF make clear that the agency doesn’t trace nearly all of those.
According to ATF, Mexico submitted 7,743 firearms for tracing in fiscal year 2008 (which ended Oct. 1) and 3,312 guns in fiscal 2007.
"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)

http://www.factcheck.org/2009/04/counting-mexicos-guns/

[Winehole23]