http://mediamatters.org/items/printable/200903270036

Ignoring ATF data, Fox's Bream advanced "gun advocates" claim that
"vast majority" of Mexican cartel weapons not from US

Summary: Fox News' Trace Gallagher and Shannon Bream advanced the
claim, touted by "gun advocates," that the "vast majority" of weapons
used in Mexican drug cartels "are not coming from the United States."
In fact, according to ATF's National Tracing Center, 90 percent of
these weapons that could be traced originated from within the U.S.

On the March 27 edition of Fox News' The Live Desk, co-host Trace
Gallagher stated that Attorney General Eric Holder "says"
reinstituting the ban on assault weapons "would help in the battle
with violence along the U.S.-Mexico border, but gun advocates say
that's not right." Supreme Court correspondent Shannon Bream then
asserted: "Absolutely. ... [T]hey say if you go to the border, if you
talk to law enforcement agents who are there, working all along both
sides of the border, and immigration officials as well, and ask them
about this issue, they'll say the vast majority of guns, according to
them, that are in Mexico being used in some of these drug cartels are
not coming from the United States." At no point did Gallagher or Bream
mention that statistics from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives (ATF) contradict the anecdotal claim of these "gun
advocates." ATF and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) stated in
recent congressional testimony that "according to ATF's National
Tracing Center, 90 percent of the weapons [in Mexico] that could be
traced were determined to have originated from various sources within
the U.S."

In a joint prepared statement to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on
Crime and Drugs, William Hoover, ATF assistant director for field
operations, and Anthony P. Placido, DEA assistant administrator for
intelligence, testified:

The southwest border is the principal arrival zone for most illicit
drugs trafficked into the U.S., as well as the predominant staging
area for the subsequent distribution of these drugs throughout the
U.S. Guns are an integral part of these criminal enterprises; they are
the "tools of the trade." Drug traffickers routinely use firearms
against each other and have used these weapons against the Mexican
military, law enforcement officials, and Mexican civilians. Because
firearms are not readily available in Mexico, drug traffickers have
aggressively turned to the U.S. as their primary source. Firearms are
routinely being transported from the U.S. into Mexico in violation of
both U.S. and Mexican law. In fact, according to ATF's National
Tracing Center, 90 percent of the weapons that could be traced were
determined to have originated from various sources within the U.S. One
thing must remain clear in any discussion of violence in Mexico, or
violence practiced by Mexican traffickers operating in the U.S.: drug
gangs are inherently violent, and nowhere is this more true than in
Mexico, where "Wild West"-style shootouts between the criminals and
the cops, and elements of opposing trafficking groups are
unfortunately considered normal.

From March 27 edition of Fox News' The Live Desk with Martha and
Trace:

TRACE GALLAGHER (co-host): Well, in the meantime, Attorney General
Eric Holder is battling for a gun fight, because the attorney general
is reconsidering instituting a ban on assault weapons. Holder
suggested bringing back the ban in response to the escalating drug
violence in Mexico. He says it would decrease the flow of guns from
the U.S. into Mexico.

But gun rights advocates say liberal Democrats are using the war next
door to push for more restrictions on guns right here in the U.S.
Shannon Bream is following this live from D.C. She's on RM-232.

And Shannon, the attorney general says the ban would help in the
battle with violence along the U.S.-Mexico border, but gun advocates
say that's not right.

BREAM: Absolutely. They think this is kind of a smokescreen, because
they say if you go to the border, if you talk to law enforcement
agents who are there, working all along both sides of the border, and
immigration officials as well, and ask them about this issue, they'll
say the vast majority of guns, according to them, that are in Mexico
being used in some of these drug cartels are not coming from the
United States. So these folks say the Second Amendment is now under
attack by the attorney general.

They think he is trying to reinstate this ban on assault weapons as a
way of, you know, getting gun control kind of maybe under the radar,
because nobody looks at what's happening in Mexico and thinks that's a
positive thing. It's obviously a very tragic situation. It gets
people's attention. And so, you know, reinstating the ban in that
arena makes it -- to a lot of people, it makes sense.

But folks are warning, if you care about your gun rights, you need to
take another look at this, a closer look, Trace.

GALLAGHER: Shannon, how is this playing out on Capitol Hill?

BREAM: Well, you know, surprisingly -- not surprisingly, Republicans
have said we're going to fight this. But a little bit more
surprisingly, there is very strong, very organized Democratic
opposition as well. We have a letter that came from 65 Democrats on
the House side to the attorney general. We've got a quote from that.

It says: "It is hard to believe the ban would be any more effective in
controlling crime by well-funded international drug traffickers, who
regularly use grenade launchers, anti-tank rockets, and other weapons
that are not available on the civilian market in the U.S."

So they say these guns that would be banned, that's not the only thing
that these guys have in their arsenal. Also another letter went out
from Senators [Max] Baucus [D-MT] and [Jon] Tester [D-MT], saying they
will vigorously oppose any attempt to revive this ban.

So there is definitely organized bipartisan support against this that
will be motivated to fight with the attorney general is proposing,
Trace.

GALLAGHER: And I guess the bottom line here, Shannon, is does the
administration have the support it needs?

BREAM: You know what? It doesn't sound like it right now because even
top Democratic leaders -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid [D-NV] and
also House Speaker Nancy Pelosi [D-CA] -- have come out and said, you
know, we don't want to go down this path. We're not in favor of
reinstating a ban here. What we need to do is enforce the gun laws
that we have in effect right now.

And that's something you're hearing from people on both sides of this
debate. They say the U.S. already makes it illegal for these guns to
go across the border. Things have to be enforced on both sides of the
border in order to make it effective. Let's do that. Let's make sure
that's working before we pass an even broader law that's going to also
need to be enforced. Let's start with what we have on the books now,
Trace.

GALLAGHER: Shannon Bream live in D.C. Shannon, thank you.