Mexico’s Calderon admires Second Amendment, but wants U.S. gun control
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has no problem with the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — the right to bear arms — he just wants the weapons flowing across the border into his country stopped.
That’s what he told a joint session of the U.S. Congress, an honor not given to every foreign leader. And the way Congress received him — lengthy standing ovations — showed that Calderon was not just any foreign leader to speak from that podium but an especially close ally.
And perhaps it was the knowledge of that friendship between the two neighboring countries that allowed the Mexican president to fearlessly enter the lion’s den with red meat in hand.
“I fully respect, I admire the American Constitution. And I understand that the purpose of the Second Amendment is to guarantee good American citizens the ability to defend themselves and their nation,” Calderon said.
“Many of these guns are not going to honest American hands, instead, thousands are ending up in the hands of criminals,” he said.
Calderon then went on to say that the rise in violence in Mexico coincided with the lifting of the U.S. assault weapons ban in 2004.
”I also fully understand the political sensitivity of this issue,” he said, and asked Congress to consider reinstating the assault weapons ban. (That statement coincided with many Republicans staying seated, while many Democrats rose and clapped).
Armed (and dangerous?) in America’s national parks
One of the biggest expansions of U.S. gun rights in decades took affect on Monday – and it was signed into law by President Barack Obama, whom many conservative groups claim is plotting to disarm law-abiding Americans.
People can now take firearms into many of America’s national parks, provided they legally possess them under federal laws and laws that apply to the state where the park is located. You can see the National Park Service press release here. The usual prohibitions on hunting or discharging firearms within the parks still apply.
The new “guns in national parks” regulations were signed into law by Obama last May and were part of a new credit card act (yes, American law making is a mysterious thing) that also came into affect on Monday.
What is striking about this state of affairs is that it stands in sharp contrast to the constant mantra in some conservative circles that the Obama administration plans to attack America’s second amendment rights — the right to bear arms — which are regarded as sacred by many and were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008.
As a journalist and gun owner, my e-mail address has found its way to various lists and I get daily e-mail blasts from different groups telling me that Obama plans to take away my gun.
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one. Here is an example of one e-blast I got last Thursday:
Hey, just build a fence from your side. That would solve both country’s problems.