SITREP

By Dan Shea

“Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the death of police officers, soldiers and civilians; I feel very strongly we have a co-responsibility.” – US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to reporters during her trip to Mexico 25 March, 2009

“Crushing the drug cartels, who arm themselves with smuggled U.S. weapons and leave slain rivals, sometimes beheaded, in public streets, has become the biggest test of Calderon’s presidency as the bloodshed rattles investors and tourists. Clinton said U.S. efforts to ban drugs and prevent Americans from trying them had clearly not worked and it was unfair to blame Mexico for its drug gang problem.”- Reporter Arshad Mohammed in the Clinton story on 25 March, 2009.

Wow. There’s so much wrong with the above, that I don’t know where to start. I read it and was absolutely shocked at the incredible about-face that US Policy has just taken. I’m sure the readers don’t want to hear me argue about the drug problem, or international borders, or illegals, those things have a time and place in other magazines. Small Arms Review is about the history, technology, design and use of military small arms.

We are based, however, in the United States, and our country’s history of Rugged Individualism and Personal Responsibility regarding our Second Amendment flies heavily in the face of the comments above. I don’t want to pick on our Secretary of State, but again, Wow. “Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the death of police officers, soldiers and civilians…”

Whose fault is it? Who is included in that “Our inability…” blame-throwing? Who is it that is causing the deaths of Mexican police officers, soldiers, and civilians? Is this the fault of American firearms owners? Is it the fault of our Law Enforcement community? Is it Homeland Security? Is it Customs and Border Protection?

Sweet suffering Mary, it’s the criminals that do this! Criminals in Mexico! How did we arrive at a place where a US official would make a comment like that in a foreign country, and get a free pass from the media? And… I can’t help this … “Our insatiable appetite for illegal drugs…” Who is she discussing? It’s not me, not anyone I know, so, is it Madame Secretary and her friends? (Couldn’t resist that.)

When Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, another Democrat, put a nail in the coffin on the Obama administration’s recent attempt to resurrect the silly, pointless, and impotent “Assault Weapons Ban” of 1994, it should have been over, at least for now. We all heard the comments from Obama Administration people that criminals using straw man transactions and buying weapons illegally in the US, and giving them to criminals to take across the border to Mexico for other criminals to commit crimes with, was a reason to ban the firearms from lawful US citizens. Some of those people used racial comments and negative stereotypes of Hispanics in general in their arguments.

Good lord. This has just gotten so frustrating. SAR has many Hispanic readers, and as a descendant of Irish immigrants who were the target of the Poll Taxes and the firearms bans for Irish, Italians, Polish, Jews and African-Americans, reading things like this makes me crazy. It is just infuriating.

It is the criminals who commit these crimes, not law-abiding American Citizens. Can you please stop blaming us? Please? Can you please stop trying to take away our Rights, take away our firearms, because someone in another country is sending criminals here to smuggle our formerly legal firearms there? We didn’t do it, the criminals did! We have a lot of laws in place that are being violated by the criminals, so catch them, and charge them. Deport them, punish them, put them in jail, whatever: just stop punishing the legal, law-abiding people of this country, of whatever ethnic background, in place of the criminals.

-Dan