AP - U.S. Crackdown Not Halting "River of Guns" To Mexico

"BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Federal agents are barely able to slow the river of American guns flowing into Mexico. In two years, a new effort to increase inspections of travelers crossing the border has netted just 386 guns — an almost infinitesimal amount given that an estimated 2,000 slip across each day.

"The problem came into sharp focus again last month when a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was killed on a northern Mexican highway with a gun that was purchased in a town outside Fort Worth, Texas..."

click here for the rest of the story:

http://www.startribune.com/nation/117458708.html

ARE THERE REALLY 20,000 GUN CONTROL LAWS?

The Brookings Institution conducted an exhaustive study and concluded that though the received wisdom holds that there are, the reality is that what with a national trend toward state-wide gun regulations, there are probably 300 or fewer state and local gun control laws on the books today.

No less a personage than President Ronald Reagan cited the figure in a speech rejecting the idea that Congress should enact some tougher, more stringent gun regulations. It looks like the Gipper got his facts wrong somewhere, as well as Detroit Democratic U.S. Representative John Dingell of Detroit and others on the national scene who have decried the overabundance of gun laws.

According to a recently published book in the Brookings catalog, the overall efforts of law enforcement to curb the effects of gun violence are of little effect..

Though the high number of those who own guns in America provides much recreation and the occasional chance to make use of firearms in the name of law and order, the think tank concluded that gun crime accounts for most of the costs of gun violence in the United States, “which are on the order of $100 billion per year.”

"Evaluating Gun Policy" Effects on Crime and Violence, James Ludwig and Philip I. Cook, Eds., Brookins Instuttiion Press and Brookings Metro Series 2003, 456 pp.

There is a chapter that examines whether permissive concealed carry laws have much impact on gun violence or gun crime. One may read it by clicking here.

The study shows that of the 33 states that passed "shall-issue" concealed carry handgun laws, all have reported substantially less serious crime. The issue is so profound that constitutional scholars and staff attorneys for the NRA have predicted that the matter will soon become a constitutionally mandated right in all 50 states and not a statutory privilege granted in 33 states.