Guns for Drugs

Hi!

According to the BATF, 90% of the guns used by Mexican drug cartels come from the U.S. (I heard this on the 3/24 episode of NPR's Fresh Air.) Why? Because it's easy to get guns here! It's quite ironic that U.S. citizens are lamenting the problem of drugs in Mexico as it spills over into border states when it's our supply of guns and demand for drugs that is the root cause. Here are two things we could do to help, neither will go over well Washington but I don't see anything coming out of there that's any better:

1) Legalize drugs, especially marijuana, and allow anyone convicted of possession of a small amount of anything to undergo counseling instead of going to prison. Legalization of pot would improve control, increase tax revenue, and make it less of a gateway drug. The main reason pot is a gateway drug is because it requires people to engage the criminal element to get it. Make it legal, and folks just wanting a hit now and then won't have to subject themselves to criminals who push the hard (and more profitable) stuff. Giving people counseling would not only be cheaper than sending them to prison, but it'd allow them to stay productive members of society. Prisons don't rehabilitate drug addicts, they only introduce them to more contacts and make it easier for them to get drugs when they get out...

2) Reform guns laws. The main way guns are making it to Mexico is through legal purchases that are then turned over to the cartels. These folks buy a few at a gun show, from a dealer, or some other legal (in the U.S. anyway) method, then simply send them underground. It wouldn't take making gun shows illegal to fix this, just better record-keeping. If Joe Blow buys 25 guns over a three week period, that should raise a red flag. If a BATF agent stops by his house and the guns aren't there, then Joe goes to jail. I know the NRA is opposed to this, but where in the Constitution does is state that the right to bear arms comes with right to do it without any records of ownership?

We're quick to complain when another country's laws make it harder on our society, but won't acknowledge when our laws negatively affect another's. If we're to stop this guns for drugs exchange we have with Mexico, we can't just throw money and training south of the border; we need to make make some changes north of it.

Thanks,
Matt