Fast and Furious

Fortune has a story about the BATF's Operation Fast & Furious. It starts with the premise that we do not want guns smuggled into Mexico. That seems like Mexico's problem to me. If they don't want guns smuggled  into their country, then it is up to them to do something about it. Now as the USA and Mexico are nominally on good terms, they might ask for our assistance in this matter, and perhaps that is how Fast & Furious got started: as a favor to a friend. On the other hand, if we want to prevent guns from being smuggled out of the USA, then that's our problem, but that's not what people are saying. Everyone is saying "stop guns from being smuggled into Mexico".

I've read some of the gunnies rants about the BATF, and I wouldn't be surprised if the NRA (National Rifle Association) was aiming for the complete elimination of that agency. I dunno what the BATF does exactly, but how many police forces does this country need? I mean you have your local, county and state police, and then you have the alphabet soup of Federal agencies: the FBI, CIA, NSA, TSA, SS, BATF, and I imagine there may be couple of dozen others.

Then there are human rights. The right to bear arms is enshrined in our Bill of Rights, but the USA is one of the few countries in the world that allows ordinary citizens to own guns. What about all the other people in the world? Should they not also have that right? Take Mexico for instance. Presuming that guns are prohibited in Mexico (otherwise why would we even be having this discussion?), that prohibition has not done much to stop the bloody drug cartel warfare that is going on down there. Maybe Mexican citizens should be campaigning for their own second amendment.

And lastly there is whole business of illegal drugs. But I've already talked about that today.

Hat tip to Burro Hall.