Gun control advocates are excellent at slight-of-hand, and rarely will they ever stand up and discuss the issues in the full light of honest debate.  Frequently, gun control folks will piggyback their agenda to a tragic incident or crisis, whether real or imagined.  The current crisis they are fabricating for gun control is the ongoing violence in Mexico.

Violence in Mexico is nothing new, and Mexico has had significant problems for decades.  Drug cartels are responsible for thousands of murders every year, just south of the US-Mexico border.  Corruption in the police, government, and military is common.  A guerilla war even rages in Mexico between Hugo Chavez-backed Marxist forces and the government, not that you would ever hear about it in the “mainstream” media.

The Obama administration will use this “new” crisis in Mexico to go after lawful gun ownership in the United States.

The first step in the process was to fabricate the urgency of the crisis in the national media by claiming that guns from the United States are flowing into Mexico and arming the drug cartels.  Media reports have been going on for several months now about the “arms smuggling” of illegal guns to Mexico from the USA.

The administration has come out on several occasions to discuss the crisis.  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has even gone as far as to say the United States is responsible for all of the murders by drug dealers.

“Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians,” said Clinton.

The US State Department claims that 95% of all drug-related murders in Mexico use firearms obtained in the USA.  While I have never been able to find any statistics that back that up, I do know that one of the preferred methods of execution by the drug gangs is beheading the victim.  That would seem to contradict the extremely high number of 95%.

The vast majority of US voters surveyed disagree with Clinton.  In a March 2009 Zogby poll, only 13.5% agreed with Clinton, saying they think the cartel guns come from US sources.  The majority of respondents (65%) said the international black market is the most likely source.  It would seem the public gets it…but the State Department does not.

Of course the actual source of the majority of weapons that the drug cartels obtain is far more likely from the Mexican government itself.  Corruption in the military is legendary and while semi-automatic guns are all that could be obtained from the US, full-auto guns can be easily had from the Mexican armed forces.

Additionally, these drug cartels are international organizations with ties to terrorist groups and foreign military powers who can provide the cartels with all of the fully automatic firearms and heavy weapons they can want.

The second step in the process is to use federal law enforcement to go after US gun dealers and collectors. The Obama administration has ordered more ATF agents to the border area in special units called GRITs (No, I’m not kidding: Gun Runner Interdiction Teams).

These teams, as part of Operation Gunrunner, are funded by the Recovery Act (aka the “stimulus” bill).  These agents will not be on the border inspecting cars and trucks crossing into Mexico.  They will be likely assigned to the inspection of lawful US gun dealers.  These inspections will go over all of the paperwork with fine-tooth combs looking for the smallest irregularities with which they can shut down the legal gun dealers.

On the surface, inspections of the dealers is a good idea.  After all, we want to make sure that the dealers are not selling guns to felons or to straw purchasers.  However, the ATF has gone after gun dealers with the smallest paperwork infractions such as a purchaser using a middle initial, rather than a full middle name.

To put it in a way that the average citizen can understand, how would you like the IRS showing up at your house for regular inspections of your tax records?  Everyone has heard of how abusive the IRS is toward the average citizen.  Well the ATF does the same to lawful business owners.

So, the administration will likely use the stimulus bill funded agents to harass and shut down lawful gun dealers, a de facto restriction of guns to law abiding US citizens.

The third step (but surely not final) is to pursue additional gun control legislation such as a new “assault weapons” ban.  This is the only thing the administration has been honest about.  Obama supported a new ban during his campaign, and still has this listed as part of his agenda.  Obama has appointed pro-ban people to power (like Eric Holder).

The push for a new assault weapons ban is coming.  The gun grabbers will tout the ban as a “common sense” measure while pointing to the violence in Mexico as one of the reasons the ban should be passed.

Stay vigilant and do not be distracted by the Mexican violence.  For decades, Washington has not listened to the citizens regarding all of the problems along the border.  Suddenly they care about gun trafficking on the border?  It is agenda-driven politics as usual.