Mexican president urges U.S. congress to reinstate assault weapons ban

[pitt2magic]

Calderon urges Congress to reinstate ban on assault weapons - CNN.com

I really dont think this guy has any right telling us how to run our country seeing that the violence in Mexico is out of control.

[kb4ns]

Washington (CNN) -- Mexican President Felipe Calderon asked members of the U.S. Congress on Thursday to reinstate a ban on assault weapons to help clamp down on violence in both Mexico and the United States.

During his speech Thursday to Congress, Calderon said the challenge to Mexican security has "roots on both sides of the border," including the high demand for drugs in the United States.

Tackling other politically sensitive issues such as immigration, the Mexican leader said, "I strongly disagree with the recently adopted law in Arizona. It is a law that not only ignores a reality that cannot be erased by decree" but also introduces the "terrible idea" that racial profiling is acceptable.

Calderon on Wednesday had characterized the Arizona law as discriminatory.

The measure, which will allow law enforcement officers to ask for proof of legal residency of anyone who is being investigated for a crime or possible legal infraction, has drawn widespread criticism in Mexico.

Critics contend, among other things, that the law will lead to racial profiling against Hispanic residents.

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The Mexican government rejects efforts "to criminalize migration so that people [who] work and provide things to this nation will be treated as criminals," Calderon said in a briefing to reporters on Wednesday, alongside President Barack Obama. "We oppose firmly" the Arizona law, which is "partial and discriminatory."

A Mexican official familiar with arrangements for Calderon's visit cautioned that it would be wrong to let the controversy over Arizona's law overwhelm the rest of the visit.

"It will not define the visit or the relationship," the Mexican official said. "The U.S.-Mexican relationship is much more rich and diverse than one issue."

A senior Obama administration official, however, acknowledged that "this is an issue that has resonated in Mexico [and] is of deep concern to the Mexican government."

The two countries also face other common challenges, including climate change and organized crime -- a rising threat to border stability, Calderon said Wednesday.

Drug violence claimed 6,500 lives in Mexico last year. About 90 percent of the cocaine that is smuggled into the United States moves through Mexico, which is also a gateway for marijuana and other illegal drugs.

Moving in the other direction, Mexican authorities in recent years have seized 45,000 weapons that could be traced to the United States.

But what ultimately "turns us into good neighbors" is a common belief in "freedom, justice and democracy," Calderon said.

Obama on Wednesday noted that his administration is screening 100 percent of southbound rail cargo. He also cited new initiatives to cut U.S. demand for illegal drugs.

"As your partner, we'll give you the support you need to prevail ... against the drug cartels that have unleashed horrific violence in so many communities," Obama told Calderon.

Obama also ticked through a list of items he said the two leaders had agreed upon during their meeting. On the economy, he said, they had agreed to streamline regulations while strengthening protection of intellectual property.

To facilitate trade, they had reaffirmed a "commitment to a 21st-century border that is modern, secure and efficient."

He also pledged to expand joint initiatives promoting renewable energy and "smart grid" technology.

Obama also noted Mexico's current seat on the U.N. Security Council, highlighting the two countries' agreement on possible sanctions against Iran to stop Tehran's nuclear program.

[Guest jackdm3]

They've run out of gold to plate their AK's. And they can't have AK's without gold plating, so they need a reduction in new weapons.

[Guest SUNTZU]

The Democrats gave him (Mexican president) a standing ovation after his speech.

[jtluttrell]

Did anybody check his papers?

[mikegideon]

The Democrats gave him (Mexican president) a standing ovation after his speech.

I'm about fed up with our mexican brothers. Let's see if Obama is dumb enough to jump on an assault weapons ban.

[Mark@Sea]

Don't secure your border, we need the billions the illegals send home. But, your guns are responsible for our crime.

This from the president of a country where even legal immigrants don't have the rights of citizens, where illegals are commonly beaten, killed, raped and enslaved. Where a huge majority of government, police and military are on the take.

Remember the Alamo... But this time around, citizen soldiers responding to the distress and pleas for assistance are harassed, belittled, and threatened by the federal government deliberately defaulting it's responsibility to defend our border. And for what? The cynical pursuit of new votes, or the treasonous agenda of socialism.

[Mike.357]

I wish our country would adopt Mexico's policy on illegal immigrants.

I also wish we had a president willing to tell this joker where to step off.

[Guest oldsmobile98]

A representative government that sanctions the breaking of its own laws by foreigners loses the respect of its people. If they don't have to obey legitimate immigration laws, why should we have to obey illegitimate gun laws?

[Magiccarpetrides]

wow......he must have a wheelbarrow to carry nuts that big around.

[Guest SUNTZU]

I have a problem with the standing ovations.

Calderón Calls for Restoring Assault Weapons Ban - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com

Updated: President Felipe Calderón argued before a joint meeting of Congress today that Mexico was making extraordinary investments in confronting a problem affecting both countries – drug-fueled crime – as he implored lawmakers to restore a ban on the assault weapons often used by traffickers.

He also assailed as a “terrible idea” the new Arizona law that allows law enforcement officials to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally, repeating the criticism he had made Wednesday, when he spent much of the day with President Obama. Mr. Obama himself called the law “misdirected.”

“Restoring public security will not be easy and will not be quick,” Mr. Calderón said in a 35-minute speech to members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, in a session that’s a rare honor granted to few foreign dignitaries. It “will take time, will take money and, unfortunately to our deep sorrow, it will take human life as well.”

But he added, “This is a battle that has to be fought because the future of our families is at stake.”

Mr. Calderón was for the most part warmly received, though some of the issues he raised – including illegal immigration – are among the most divisive in American politics. He said that Mexico was doing its best to create thousands of new jobs and keep Mexicans at home. “My government does not favor the breaking of rules,” he said.

On the gun question, Mr. Calderón said, “We have seized 75,000 guns and assault weapons in Mexico in the past three years, and more than 80 percent of those we have been able to trace came from the United States.”

He said it did not seem coincidental that violence in Mexico had begun to grow in 2006, not long after the weapons ban expired in the United States. Drug-related killings are estimated to have approached 23,000 since Mr. Calderón began a war on trafficking that year.

While Mr. Calderon’s speech was interrupted with frequent applause and at least a half-dozen standing ovations, his call for a new assault weapons ban drew no such response.

Indeed, in the current largely pro-gun Congress, there seemed to be little chance of passing a fresh ban. Ever since Democrats gained control with the election of moderate to conservative members of their party, efforts to enact gun-control curbs have mostly failed.

After Mr. Calderón’s speech, Senator Richard Durbin, the majority whip from Illinois, lamented the violence — especially along the northern border of Mexico that has spilled over onto boths sides. But he, too, noted the lack of a receptive climate in Congress toward restoring the assault weapons ban.

On the floor of the Senate, Mr. Durbin said he was sure that Mr. Calderón’s call for prohibiting assault weapons wasn’t welcomed by a lot of lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Beyond the protections afforded to law-abiding citizens of the United States under the Second Amendment, Mr. Durbin said, however that “The people who are buying and shipping guns into Mexico from the United States are not engaged in the type of protected constitutional activity which the Supreme Court noted.”

[Bigiron]

Tht just adds to my list the number of presidents who can kiss my rearward extremity.

[Guest jackdm3]

Don't you mean your tailpipe?

[-boatman-]

I wish our country would adopt Mexico's policy on illegal immigrants.

And build a really tall fence. With both we might have fairly secure borders.

I also wish we had a president willing to tell this joker where to step off.

It will never happen with our current president. He will give the whole country away if that is what it takes to keep other countrys from thinking we are not a nice country.

[Guest HvyMtl]

Hasnt happened yet. Even Reagan didnt tell them to step off. Wont happen. I wonder why.

Wish Reagan had told them to step off, instead of creating the presently unenforced illegal immigrant laws. And setting the precedent for amnesty in 1986. (1.7 to 2.7 million primarily Mexican illegals given citizenship.)

2006 article by Ed Meese III, himself on the matter...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/24/opinion/24meese.html

As for the Mexican President, he has to point somewhere else for the lack of ability to secure his own country. Where better than pointing fingers at the sole Super Power?

Edited May 20, 2010 by HvyMtl

[DaveTN]

I would bet anything this isn’t his idea, and he was promised something for doing this. Hillary looked like a fool when she started rattling off statistics about how all the weapons in the cartels come from the U.S.

The statistics turned out to be as we all knew they would when we heard it.

FOXNews.com - The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S.

I'm about fed up with our mexican brothers. Let's see if Obama is dumb enough to jump on an assault weapons ban.

He has always been for it; he just hasn’t gotten around to it yet. Since we have term limits he will probably go after it in his 2<SUP>nd</SUP> term. But it won’t be an assault weapons ban; he wants to ban all semi-auto weapons.

You think this guy is bad now…. Wait until he has four years of not having to worry about what anyone thinks.

[Garufa]

I have a problem with the standing ovations.

Just finished watching as much of his drivel as I could. Looked to me that EVERYONE stood up when he first mentioned the AWB. I will never know how much love our "government" showered after that point.

CSPAN has the video, the AWB business starts around 12:55

C-SPAN Video Player - Mexican President Calderon Addresses Joint Meeting of Congress

Screw him and the Burro he rode in on.

[Chief07]

I wish our country would adopt Mexico's policy on illegal immigrants.

I also wish we had a president willing to tell this joker where to step off.

Amen MIke. Why doesn't this idiot read Mexico's law?

The US law is bearly adequate and way too fair.

I agree.Adopt Mexicos and put a US bill number on it.

Se them complain then.

[mikegideon]

Just finished watching as much of his drivel as I could. Looked to me that EVERYONE stood up when he first mentioned the AWB. I will never know how much love our "government" showered after that point.

CSPAN has the video, the AWB business starts around 12:55

C-SPAN Video Player - Mexican President Calderon Addresses Joint Meeting of Congress

Screw him and the Burro he rode in on.

But... I watched most of the White House press briefing today, and the question came up. Obama's answer yesterday to the AWB issue was to heat up cargo inspections going into Mexico. Sounds like he's not going anywhere near an AWB right now, so it's up to the regular grabbers to go it without him.

[Glenn]

I am so mad I am about to scream. Well not about. I was actually screaming at the radio when the were talking about Calderón's speech. i don't think I can take any more. Where does this jack--- get off lecturing us about our laws. And then to hear O agreeing with him and the congress applauding. I truly believe it is too late to save our country. We have quit sliding down the slope to socialism and have fallen off the cliff.

If Mexico is so worried about guns coming into their rat hole of a country, why don't they build a fence and control the border. The country previously known as the USA sure isn't going to control it.

Glenn

[Glenn]

But... I watched most of the White House press briefing today, and the question came up. Obama's answer yesterday to the AWB issue was to heat up cargo inspections going into Mexico. Sounds like he's not going anywhere near an AWB right now, so it's up to the regular grabbers to go it without him.

He won't call for gun control, he will just sign a treaty and let the UN do it.

Glenn

[USMCJG]

Sounds like he's not going anywhere near an AWB right now, so it's up to the regular grabbers to go it without him.

Obama may not want to initiate an AWB. But if one ever did make it to his desk, he'd sign it so fast his pen would be smoking.

[Guest HvyMtl]

Calderon has to have a scape goat, because there are parts of his country his government does not control. The US is his scape goat.

This will pass over, as the reaction and response to Holder floating the idea last year shows how the issue would backfire on the Dems.

[mikegideon]

Obama may not want to initiate an AWB. But if one ever did make it to his desk, he'd sign it so fast his pen would be smoking.

I think you're probably right there. Just when i was hoping that AR's would stay cheap.

[Garufa]

Calderon has to have a scape goat, because there are parts of his country his government does not control.

Uh, yeah, like everything outside of Mexico City. He is an elitist of the first order. No different from others of his ilk in this county and others.

I'd love to see his net worth before and after his "presidency".