NSSF: Report Shatters Myth of Mexico’s Gun Supply

A new report calls "The 90 Percent Myth," which refers to the number of illegal guns in Mexico coming from the United States, "more political rhetoric than empirical fact."

We couldn't agree more. NSSF has been trying to stamp out "The 90 Percent Myth" ever since ATF misstated the number in testimony at a congressional hearing in 2009. A prompt clarification issued by ATF couldn't put the proverbial genie back in the bottle. Unfortunately, "The 90 Percent Myth" has been widely promoted by Mexican officials and wrongly cited in U.S. news stories, although a Fox News study of the "90% statistic" noted "that number's just plain wrong."

In a report issued last week, the independent research group STRATFOR has corroborated what NSSF has been saying for some time about firearms recovered from drug cartels in Mexico: that it is erroneous and grossly misleading to say that 90 percent (a rounded up number) of the firearms recovered in Mexico came from the United States.

The truth is that less than 12 percent of the guns Mexico seized in 2008 have been verified as coming from the United States. The proof can be found in the U.S. government statistics that the STRATFOR report explains below and that the pie chart clearly illustrates...

Click here to read the entire commentary and for a link to the STRATFOR report.

Related Article:
WikiLeaks exposes true origins of Mexican cartels' weaponry (Hint: It's not due to the "mythical" gun show loophole)