Univision report connects Operation Fast and Furious scandal to murders of Mexican teenagers

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**Frazzled**

http://dailycaller.com/2012/10/01/univision-report-connects-operation-fast-and-furious-scandal-to-murders-of-mexican-teenagers/

The Spanish language television news network Univision unleashed a bombshell investigative report on Operation Fast and Furious Sunday evening, finding that in January 2010 drug cartel hit men slaughtered students with weapons the United States government allowed to flow to them across the Mexican border.

“On January 30, 2010, a commando of at least 20 hit men parked themselves outside a birthday party of high school and college students in Villas de Salvarcar, Ciudad Juarez,” according to a version of the Univision report in English, on the ABC News website.

“Near midnight, the assassins, later identified as hired guns for the Mexican cartel La Linea, broke into a one-story house and opened fire on a gathering of nearly 60 teenagers. Outside, lookouts gunned down a screaming neighbor and several students who had managed to escape. Fourteen young men and women were killed, and 12 more were wounded before the hit men finally fled.”

Citing a Mexican Army document it obtained and published, Univision reported that “[t]hree of the high caliber weapons fired that night in Villas de Salvarcar were linked to a gun tracing operation run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).”

That operation was Fast and Furious.

The “massacre,” as Univision described it, was not the only bombshell the network unveiled in its Sunday evening report.

“Univision News identified a total of 57 more previously unreported firearms that were bought by straw purchasers monitored by ATF during Operation Fast and Furious, and then recovered in Mexico in sites related to murders, kidnappings, and at least one other massacre,” the Univision report reads.

The network also uncovered another Fast and Furious weapons “massacre.” On September 2, 2009, 18 young men were killed at “El Aliviane, a rehabilitation center in Ciudad Juarez,” according to the report.

Univision found many of these victims through “access to the list of serial numbers for weapons used in Fast and Furious” and the “list of guns seized in Mexico,” according to English subtitles on the Spanish-language video.

“After cross-referencing them both lists, it became clear that a least a hundred of them were used in crimes of all kinds,” the subtitles read. “We found 57 weapons that were not mentioned in [the U.S.] Congress’ investigation.”

Though Univision tracked many more victims down, it said that “the death toll that this free flow of weapons authorized by ATF had in Mexico has not been tallied.”

Univision held nothing back in its broadcast, airing images and video of bloodied, dead bodies. The network showed the faces of the dead and walked viewers through how cartel operatives hunted their victims down with the weapons President Barack Obama’s administration allowed straw buyers to traffick to them.

One photo, for instance, showed pools of blood in the streets of a Mexican town after a “massacre” committed by murderers armed with Fast and Furious weapons. Video footage showed where some of the victims were killed and how the cartels chased their helpless victims to their deaths.

The Univision broadcast implicitly suggested that Americans have no regard for the victims of violence American policy helps fuel — that is, until one of those victims ends up being an American.

It wasn’t until U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry’s murder prompted whistle-blowers to come forward to Congress to publicly voice concerns about ]he program that the Obama administration stopped allowing firearms to flow into Mexico.

One victim’s father, Mexican poet Javier Sicilia, told Univision he thinks “Americans are not often moved by the pain of those outside [their country].”

“But they are moved by the pain of their own,” Sicilia added.

“Well, turn around and watch the massacres.”

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/10/01/univision-report-connects-operation-fast-and-furious-scandal-to-murders-of-mexican-teenagers/#ixzz283EnnyFl

**TheHammer**

Great, and what do you suggest we do, Frazzled?

Not about the dozens of guns that cartels have because of Fast and Furious, but about the TENS OF THOUSANDS of guns that they got from the United States?

**Frazzled**

Firing everyone involved would be a start.

**TheHammer**

And that does what? Make you feel good because you won a cheap political point?

Can you honestly say that without the guns that got lost in Fast and Furious that the people who died because of them wouldn't have died to one of the other guns that are getting trafficked?

**Frazzled**

TheHammer wrote:
And that does what? Make you feel good because you won a cheap political point?

Can you honestly say that without the guns that got lost in Fast and Furious that the people who died because of them wouldn't have died to one of the other guns that are getting trafficked?

What cheap political point? A federal agency permitted, and in some instances coerced, gunshops into selling firearms who's intended purpose was to be taken to Mexico and sold to cartels. The people what oversaw the program should be fired. The people that authorized the program should be fired. How on earth is that a political issue? How on earth is that cheap. People were killed because of it. The ones responsbile for the program should be fired. Instead nothing has been done.

Do you support what they did Hammer?

**TheHammer**

Great, so you're in favor of gun control and believe we should be severely restricting the ability to purchase guns, so as to better prohibit them being smuggled to cartels in Mexico?

**Frazzled**

TheHammer wrote:
Great, so you're in favor of gun control and believe we should be severely restricting the ability to purchase guns, so as to better prohibit them being smuggled to cartels in Mexico?

I'm for enforcing the laws that exist already and not having the US government actively arming cartels (which is an act of war FYI). Are you in support of punshing those who supported and ran the program? If not why not?

**A Town Called Malus**

They should be prosecuted in my opinion.

**Samus_aran115**

I'm curious what kinds of weapons we're talking about.... Are there any of those 'weapons cache' pictures?

The ATF has a whole lot of crap they they can't do anything with, because they can't be sold to civilians, or for whatever other reason. I think they cut up unregistered guns that enter the country, or that are found at crime scenes, and sell the pieces off to dealers.

**TheHammer**

Am I in favor of prosecuting individuals who tried to track guns, guns that would have been sold to the cartels anyway, so as to make a criminal case and to better stop the illegal flow of guns to the cartels? No, no I am not.

Why do you only care about the lives murdered by these guns, guns the cartels would have had otherwise, and not the TENS OF THOUSANDS of lives lost to the TENS OF THOUSANDS of guns otherwise purchased because of lax gun regulations in the United States?

**A Town Called Malus**

TheHammer wrote:
Am I in favor of prosecuting individuals who tried to track guns, guns that would have been sold to the cartels anyway, so as to make a criminal case and to better stop the illegal flow of guns to the cartels? No, no I am not.

Why do you only care about the lives murdered by these guns, guns the cartels would have had otherwise, and not the TENS OF THOUSANDS of lives lost to the TENS OF THOUSANDS of guns otherwise purchased because of lax gun regulations in the United States?

Because the government knowingly sold these guns to people who smuggled for the cartels. Then when these guns got into Mexico they lost them and didn't get a single big arrest. So they gave the cartels a free pass for AKs and AR-15s and got nothing out of it in return, except for a pathetic couple of arrests of people they already knew were smugglers.

**Ouze**

Frazzled wrote:
I'm for enforcing the laws that exist already

I'd like to hear you expand more on this. As I recall, when the feds tried to up monitoring of gun sellers at hotspots on the border to enforce existing straw man laws, you were all jackboots and big brother. So I'd like to hear specifically how you think they should handle this.

----

Also, I think the whole meme of "guns being smuggled into Mexico after being lawfully purchased from the US" is a complete crock and every thinking person in the MSM knows it, yet repeats this tripe anyway.

A.) Why buy a semi-auto $600 AK in the US and smuggle it past border security, when you can buy full-auto versions for $20 apiece from Ecuador or Nicaragua or thereabouts; and

B.) They always make a big deal about how most of the recovered guns have serial numbers that trace back to the US. This is not because a plurality of the weapons found are from the US, it's because only the US has a stringent monitoring system for weapon serial numbers - 50 untraceable guns and 2 that trace to Arizona gives you a headline of "guns traced to the US".

C.) While I think some guns are coming in from the US legally and ending up in the hands of the narcotics industry, they're making a stop at the Mexican Army first. Especially when you see those super-lulzy pictures of tables of recovered weapons, and see, like, LAW tubes and Ma Deuces and hand grenades and M203 launchers and all sorts of stuff that you can't buy in the goddamn US legally either.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but the vigor with which this meme is propagated makes me understand, at least, why the right wing thinks the Obama administration is behind it. The only evidence I have to counter that would be what he's done as far as gun control over the last 4 years (2 things, Jack and Squat) and the only remaining possibility is the media likes it because reporters are lazy as hell and it's easy to write.

**AustonT**

TheHammer wrote:Make you feel good because you won a cheap political point?

Taken a look in the mirror lately?

Can you honestly say that without the guns that got lost in Fast and Furious that the people who died because of them wouldn't have died to one of the other guns that are getting trafficked?

Do you really think that the US is where cartels get their automatic weapons, or that they come here to pay retail for $1000 handguns to smuggle south? If you do I have some beachfront property in Arizona I' like to sell you.

**TheHammer**

AustonT wrote:
TheHammer wrote:Make you feel good because you won a cheap political point?
Taken a look in the mirror lately?

Can you honestly say that without the guns that got lost in Fast and Furious that the people who died because of them wouldn't have died to one of the other guns that are getting trafficked?

Do you really think that the US is where cartels get their automatic weapons, or that they come here to pay retail for $1000 handguns to smuggle south? If you do I have some beachfront property in Arizona I' like to sell you.

Yes, because I'm such a big fan of President Obama that all I want to do is see him go unharmed! Four more years! Four more years!

Truth be told, he's a disappointing mediocrity that I can't be bothered to care about too much. The Democratic Party gets too far up its own ass and would gladly give away Medicare and a slew of other issues if they could get gay marriage legalized. They're a lamentable group that meanders philosophically and merely try to have a nice facade.

It's because of people like you, AustonT, and others like Frazzled that I care. You guys have pushed the Republicans so far to the right, and not even just to the right but so far to the point of hatred and just being donkey-caves that I reflexively hate everything the right says and does.

So, yes, when you guys try to make a scandal out of nothing it kind of annoys me. Instead of actually caring about an issue, guns going to cartels, you instead try to use it as a cudgel while doing nothing about the core problem. Or, you try to assert that no problem exists, except for when it does so you can use it as a political weapon.

Don't get me wrong, Democrats and liberals get up their own ass and have a lot of disdain for rural white folk. They look down on them and don't give two gaks about them. But the sheer level of hatred, vitriol, stupidity, and just callous disregard for reality I see coming from the right is staggering.

Usually I don't give a gak about politics. Most years I just pull the lever for whatever leftist candidate gets on the ballot. I won't be doing that this year.

And I sincerely hope biccat shows up soon. When Obama wins I got some new GW figures from that guy.

**Frazzled**

Ouze wrote:
Frazzled wrote:
I'm for enforcing the laws that exist already

I'd like to hear you expand more on this. As I recall, when the feds tried to up monitoring of gun sellers at hotspots on the border to enforce existing straw man laws, you were all jackboots and big brother. So I'd like to hear specifically how you think they should handle this.

Not me. I'm the guy saying we should have tank divisions on the border, or at least I've been accused of that.

Also, I think the whole meme of "guns being smuggled into Mexico after being lawfully purchased from the US" is a complete crock and every thinking person in the MSM knows it, yet repeats this tripe anyway.

Well there have been instances of this. Straw purchases are a real issue and one that should be stopped, because again, with a secure border it shouldn't be hard to do.

A.) Why buy a semi-auto $600 AK in the US and smuggle it past border security, when you can buy full-auto versions for $20 apiece from Ecuador or Nicaragua or thereabouts; and

Yep. PLus you can't buy machine guns and antitank weaponry at Carter's Country. Frazzled sad.

B.) They always make a big deal about how most of the recovered guns have serial numbers that trace back to the US. This is not because a plurality of the weapons found are from the US, it's because only the US has a stringent monitoring system for weapon serial numbers - 50 untraceable guns and 2 that trace to Arizona gives you a headline of "guns traced to the US".

Yep. Plus "identified" guns are the only ones with US ID numbers. Venezuela doesn't id guns or Mexico doesn't have access to that.

C.) While I think some guns are coming in from the US legally and ending up in the hands of the narcotics industry, they're making a stop at the Mexican Army first. Especially when you see those super-lulzy pictures of tables of recovered weapons, and see, like, LAW tubes and Ma Deuces and hand grenades and M203 launchers and all sorts of stuff that you can't buy in the goddamn US legally either.

Yep. PLus the Zetas themselves where Mexico military at one time and the cartels routinely have Mexico military on their payroll, including some of the heavy stuff. There have been intrusions on the Texas border from Mexico military, and Mexico troops have fired on ATF agents trying to arrest narcos in the past.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but the vigor with which this meme is propagated makes me understand, at least, why the right wing thinks the Obama administration is behind it. The only evidence I have to counter that would be what he's done as far as gun control over the last 4 years (2 things, Jack and Squat) and the only remaining possibility is the media likes it because reporters are lazy as hell and it's easy to write.

yep. Regardless those, the ones responsible for FandF should at least be fired.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

TheHammer wrote:
AustonT wrote:
TheHammer wrote:Make you feel good because you won a cheap political point?
Taken a look in the mirror lately?

Can you honestly say that without the guns that got lost in Fast and Furious that the people who died because of them wouldn't have died to one of the other guns that are getting trafficked?

Do you really think that the US is where cartels get their automatic weapons, or that they come here to pay retail for $1000 handguns to smuggle south? If you do I have some beachfront property in Arizona I' like to sell you.

Yes, because I'm such a big fan of President Obama that all I want to do is see him go unharmed! Four more years! Four more years!

Truth be told, he's a disappointing mediocrity that I can't be bothered to care about too much. The Democratic Party gets too far up its own ass and would gladly give away Medicare and a slew of other issues if they could get gay marriage legalized. They're a lamentable group that meanders philosophically and merely try to have a nice facade.

It's because of people like you, AustonT, and others like Frazzled that I care. You guys have pushed the Republicans so far to the right, and not even just to the right but so far to the point of hatred and just being donkey-caves that I reflexively hate everything the right says and does.

So, yes, when you guys try to make a scandal out of nothing it kind of annoys me. Instead of actually caring about an issue, guns going to cartels, you instead try to use it as a cudgel while doing nothing about the core problem. Or, you try to assert that no problem exists, except for when it does so you can use it as a political weapon.

Don't get me wrong, Democrats and liberals get up their own ass and have a lot of disdain for rural white folk. They look down on them and don't give two gaks about them. But the sheer level of hatred, vitriol, stupidity, and just callous disregard for reality I see coming from the right is staggering.

Usually I don't give a gak about politics. Most years I just pull the lever for whatever leftist candidate gets on the ballot. I won't be doing that this year.

And I sincerely hope biccat shows up soon. When Obama wins I got some new GW figures from that guy.

Why do people keep saying I am a Republican? I'm not voting for Romney.

**Seaward**

Samus_aran115 wrote:
I'm curious what kinds of weapons we're talking about.... Are there any of those 'weapons cache' pictures?

The ATF has a whole lot of crap they they can't do anything with, because they can't be sold to civilians, or for whatever other reason. I think they cut up unregistered guns that enter the country, or that are found at crime scenes, and sell the pieces off to dealers.

I doubt these are "weapon cache" guns, which is something I'm not familiar with. The ATF's mode of operation in this particular, highly misguided and downright stupid attempt to trace gun trafficking among the cartels, was to tell civilian dealers to deliberately sell guns to known or suspected "straw purchasers" and then just sort of hope they could follow the guns. Turned out they could not, and more or less had to wait for them to show up at crime scenes.

In many cases, these were dealers who followed the rules and reported suspected straw purchases to the ATF; the ATF told them that, when the guy comes back, the dealer should sell him whatever he wants.

As to the more general point being made in this thread that some other gun would have been used to murder the many, many individuals murdered with a Fast & Furious gun...yes, that's possible. It's also possible that it's not true. Why take the risk for no gain? And no gain is exactly what we got out of it.

One theoretical answer to the "why take the risk" question, by the way, is that the impetus for this whole thing was looking for a way to tighten gun regulations in the States. If Holder's DoJ could come out and say, "Look at this! The horror! We traced these guns from easy legal purchase in Arizona into the hands of cartel hitmen!" they could make a case for needing to implement far more strict laws on gun sales. Might even have worked, if some ATF agents hadn't helped blow the whistle.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

TheHammer wrote:
It's because of people like you, AustonT, and others like Frazzled that I care. You guys have pushed the Republicans so far to the right, and not even just to the right but so far to the point of hatred and just being donkey-caves that I reflexively hate everything the right says and does.

**AustonT**

TheHammer wrote:

It's because of people like you, AustonT. You guys have pushed the Republicans so far to the right, and not even just to the right but so far to the point of hatred and just being donkey-caves that I reflexively hate everything the right says and does.

bwah ahha haha haha haha

you try to assert that no problem exists.Instead of actually caring about an issue

like the topic of the thread you are posting in? Yeah who does that?

TheHammer wrote:

You.

while doing nothing about the core problem.

But the sheer level of hatred, vitriol, stupidity, and just callous disregard for reality I see coming from the left is staggering.

Don't worry you get a pass if you're liberal.

Usually I don't give a gak about politics.

Yeah that's why you come in the OT and spit hate and insults at anyone who doesn't agree with you until (I assume) you receive a ban after 3 or 4 post edits by the mods. Real political apathy.

**TheHammer**

Reading comprehension is difficult.

It's okay, AustonT, it's okay. President Obama will make sure that even people like you have a chance at success in America.

Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

**Frazzled**

So I think we've established the Hammer is ok with not prosecuting or at least disciplining the guys who did this. impressive. Most impessive.

**KalashnikovMarine**

Frazzled wrote:
So I think we've established the Hammer is ok with not prosecuting or at least disciplining the guys who did this. impressive. Most impessive.

Responsibility for one's actions is a bad thing Frazzled! Only hateful Republicans who hate President Obama think things like justice should occur in this country!

On a less sarcastic note, as someone who was living in AZ at the time, A. the vast majority of gun stores would not knowingly sell to cartel operatives, the few exceptions my local store owner had heard about involved cartel muscle putting pressure on the store owners and the store owners receiving little to no assistance if they had the guts to report it. B. The ATF also put the strong arm on these dealers, people who aren't in the industry or aren't involved with guns don't realize how EVIL the ATF is on a regular basis. You can get thrown in prison as a felon for "Conspiracy to Violate Federal Firearms Laws" just for having a box of washers, string and various other knick nacks lying around (you can look that one up, guy's still in the federal slam). So an agency of the Federal Government threatened and coerced US citizens into breaking US law, in a poorly planned operation that resulted in the deaths of hundreds foreign nationals and at least one Federal LEO and who knows how many U.S. citizens. I want Eric Holder, the director of the ATF, any one who suggested this operation or backed it up the chain of command at DoJ or ATF's careers on a platter. I'd also like to see the whistleblowers promoted, nice to see a couple federales with some integrity.

I concur on the heavy weapons that always get shown when the news (including Univision) talks about the gun running that occurs from the U.S. to Mexico. I dunno where they're getting it but it sure ain't here. Otherwise I'd have some serious heavy ordnance myself just for giggles.

And finally TheHammer, welcome to the ignore list. It's clear you have nothing useful to contribute to any civilized conversation amongst adults. Keep drinking the kool-aid buddy! Remember any one who disagrees with you is a rabid right wing christian and should be marginalized because they're obviously sub-human rednecks.

**AustonT**

KalashnikovMarine wrote:

I concur on the heavy weapons that always get shown when the news (including Univision) talks about the gun running that occurs from the U.S. to Mexico. I dunno where they're getting it but it sure ain't here.

South American militaries including Guatemala and smuggled through the boarder that is virtually unguarded. It's almost laughably easy to move anything through Mexico's southern boarder.

**KalashnikovMarine**

AustonT wrote:
KalashnikovMarine wrote:

I concur on the heavy weapons that always get shown when the news (including Univision) talks about the gun running that occurs from the U.S. to Mexico. I dunno where they're getting it but it sure ain't here.

South American militaries including Guatemala and smuggled through the boarder that is virtually unguarded. It's almost laughably easy to move anything through Mexico's southern boarder.

Unsurprising. Though didn't the Mexicans just build a giant boarder fence down south to help with their illegal immigration problem?

**AustonT**

KalashnikovMarine wrote:
AustonT wrote:
KalashnikovMarine wrote:

I concur on the heavy weapons that always get shown when the news (including Univision) talks about the gun running that occurs from the U.S. to Mexico. I dunno where they're getting it but it sure ain't here.

South American militaries including Guatemala and smuggled through the boarder that is virtually unguarded. It's almost laughably easy to move anything through Mexico's southern boarder.

Unsurprising. Though didn't the Mexicans just build a giant boarder fence down south to help with their illegal immigration problem?

I don't know about just built, they started it or at least started talking about it in SEP 2010, since then it's pretty much dropped off the radar. But let's be honest the fence is only useful if it can't be easily penetrated or subverted.
Also remember when Calderon told us a border fence was racist and our immigration policy was unfair?

**Seaward**

KalashnikovMarine wrote:

I concur on the heavy weapons that always get shown when the news (including Univision) talks about the gun running that occurs from the U.S. to Mexico. I dunno where they're getting it but it sure ain't here. Otherwise I'd have some serious heavy ordnance myself just for giggles.

I've never met an anti-gun person who actually knew anything at all about firearms. It's pretty weird. I get people who're neutral not knowing a thing about them, but willfully failing to learn anything at all about the entity you're trying to get rid of leads to...well, dumb gak like the "Assault Weapons"/Tacticool Ban. Or my clever attempt to trap a raccoon that was terrorizing our dog with cantaloupe and a deadfall.

They show that stuff 'cause it's mean-looking and figure if they don't know what the hell it is and where it could be sourced, nobody else does, either.

Also, I apparently broke the internet and entered some weird recursive loop of quote boxes with this response. Believe I sorted it.

**Ahtman**

As we all know, if it weren't for the Fast and Furious program there would be no guns or cartels in Mexico. Truly the United States is responsible for all this.

**Frazzled**

Ahtman wrote:
As we all know, if it weren't for the Fast and Furious program there would be no guns or cartels in Mexico. Truly the United States is responsible for all this.

The cartels, well one can actually make that argument.

interesting how people are going off defending this. Its not a political issue, its a bad policy one (and one for a bad novel).

**Ahtman**

Frazzled wrote:
Ahtman wrote:
As we all know, if it weren't for the Fast and Furious program there would be no guns or cartels in Mexico. Truly the United States is responsible for all this.

The cartels, well one can actually make that argument.

You are blaming the US for the creation of Cartels? Well that is a new one. I guess we are job creators.

Frazzled wrote:
interesting how people are going off defending this.

What is actually interesting is how people are using the deaths of a few teenagers to attack the administration. No one is defending Fast and Furious, but pretending that it is solely responsible for cartel violence is pretty dense in itself.

Frazzled wrote:
Its not a political issue

*cough*bs*cough*

**Frazzled**

You are blaming the US for the creation of Cartels? Well that is a new one. I guess we are job creators.
-I said the argument can be made. That argument is that the illegal drug trade created the cartels. Its not a new one. Most people for legalizing drugs cite that as a reason.

What is actually interesting is how people are using the deaths of a few teenagers to attack the administration.
-1. Its not a few teenagers. Its a lot of people.
-2. I am not attacking the administration. I am attacking the idiots who authorized and oversaw this.

No one is defending Fast and Furious, but pretending that it is solely responsible for cartel violence is pretty dense in itself.
-And no one is saying this caused all cartel violence. Thats not a logical conclusion.

**SilverMK2**

Frazzled wrote:
interesting how people are going off defending this. Its not a political issue, its a bad policy one (and one for a bad novel).

The wholesale scapegoatism of everyone involved that you seem to have suggested is required in your second post is more of a political response than one based on investigating who actually is at fault, as well as the policies, regulations and procedures which failed when planning, running and monitoring this operation, and correcting them... which is what should actually be happening to ensure that this kind of thing is less likely to happen in the future.

Regardless as to how good an idea of sending some (small number more) guns into Mexico and South America in general in the first place.

**Frazzled**

SilverMK2 wrote:
Frazzled wrote:
interesting how people are going off defending this. Its not a political issue, its a bad policy one (and one for a bad novel).

The wholesale scapegoatism of everyone involved that you seem to have suggested is required in your second post is more of a political response than one based on investigating who actually is at fault, as well as the policies, regulations and procedures which failed when planning, running and monitoring this operation, and correcting them... which is what should actually be happening to ensure that this kind of thing is less likely to happen in the future.

Regardless as to how good an idea of sending some (small number more) guns into Mexico and South America in general in the first place.

Dude I'm an American. We don't fix the problem. We fix the blame. DUH!