For years now, the anti-gun movement has been promoting a factoid that 90% of the guns used in Mexican crimes were purchased in the United States. It’s a lie. The true figure is closer to 8%. (The 90% figure refers to guns that were traced by U.S. authorities, and Mexican authorities generally don’t bother asking U.S. authorities to trace guns unless they already have reason to believe they come from the U.S.)
Despite having been debunked conclusively, the anti-gun nuts have continued to cite the “statistic”, as recently as the Democratic minority report on Gunwalker this very month.
But perhaps the truth is leaking through a little, because the New York Times is now lowering its version of the bogus statistic from 90% to 70%:
It is an open and deadly scandal that at least 70 percent of the weapons recovered in Mexico’s bloody drug war originate in the United States, where shady gun buyers operate freely thanks to loopholes in American law.
They don’t cite a source, of course, and 70% is still a lie, but it’s progress.
POSTSCRIPT: Oh, by the way, the “shady gun buyers” have been operating freely, not because of loopholes in American law, but because of the ATF was ordering gun stores to allow them free rein, despite the law. Amazingly, the NYT manages to write an entire editorial on the subject of American guns in the hands of Mexican drug cartels without even mentioning Gunwalker! (Bob Owens goes on to correct some further errors.)
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