So why aren’t they doing that today? Pretty simple empirical question.
The answer is that it is in fact easier to just buy them in the US.
So why aren’t they doing that today? Pretty simple empirical question.
The answer is that it is in fact easier to just buy them in the US.
How do you know "empirically" that they aren't? Who says that the US-sourced guns that they are tracing are even a substantial fraction of the overall guns in use? How can you prove empirically that the data provided by the notoriously-reliable and agenda-less Mexican government is accurate?
Mexico, 10 years ago: https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-cartel-gunsmiths/
Philippines, 13 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67PYuGQM9Fg
> Who says that the US-sourced guns that they are tracing are even a substantial fraction of the overall guns in use?
Statistics?
Believing your implication that homemade firearms or widespread and just don't show up in the seizure data is a little silly unless you can explain why this would be the case.
I think it's still a relevant point. The point isn't necessarily that it's easier for cartels to make it themselves than to smuggle guns or divert them from military sources. It's that the cartels can easily replace smuggled guns with manufactured guns and their demand for them is inelastic enough at either price point it's unlikely to effect the access to cartels.
The more likely effect is it disproportionately stops normal Mexico citizens from obtaining "illegal" guns to protect themselves but the cartels still have them, making things even worse for the Mexican people.
Sure, they can also easily replace people. Guess we just shouldn't arrest them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
they can also easily replace labs, guess we shouldn't raid them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
they can also easily replace ... guess we shouldn't ...
I mean yes if they can truly just replace all the labs and people for not much addition cost, then you're only hurting yourself to raid/jail/prosecute by arresting and raiding the labs because it comes at great cost to yourself while costing your enemy very little and not changing their operations.
You've just explained why the drug war failed and ultimately hurt us more than helped us while doing nothing to destroy the profits of the cartels.
If that's the argument the other fellow would like to make, then sure. But that's not the argument he's making. He's specifically taking issue with trying to add friction to small arms manufacture and trafficking.