A Little Perspective

When folks shake their heads at the violence permeating large parts of Mexico, it's good to remember the root causes: drug demand, gun supply, and the NRA, which are all from the U.S.

From the Washington Post...

There are 3,800 gun retailers in Texas, 300 in Houston alone...

"This is not a new phenomenon," Webb said. What is different now, authorities say, is the number of high-powered rifles heading south - AR-15s, AK-47s, armor-piercing .50-caliber weapons - and the savagery of the violence.

Federal authorities say more than 60,000 U.S. guns of all types have been recovered in Mexico in the past four years, helping fuel the violence that has contributed to 30,000 deaths.

U.S. law enforcement has ramped up its focus on gun trafficking along the southwestern border. Arrests of individual gunrunners have surged. But investigators rarely bring regulatory actions or criminal cases against U.S. gun dealers, in part because of laws backed by the gun lobby that make it difficult to prove cases.