Michelle H. Davis writes the blog “Lone Star Left” where she tracks events in Texas. She watched the VP debate and was stunned by JD Vance’s assertion that Mexicans send or smuggle guns into Texas. It’s just the reverse, she says.
She writes:
During this week’s VP debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz, Vance lied about many things. He spoke really fast, and he lied a lot. Presumably, that’s just who he is. While there have been plenty of fact-checks this week, there’s one topic we must drill down on and know the facts about because this topic has been one of the biggest drivers of mass migration over the years, and his like wasn’t only stupid. It was done with malice.
That’s right, we’re talking about the Iron River. Here’s what he said:
Why is the sound out of sync? I have no idea. Here’s the full video; this part is at the 56-minute mark.
Vance’s exact words: “Thanks to Kamala Harris’ open border, we’ve seen a massive influx in the number of illegal guns run by the Mexican drug cartel. So, that number then, the amount of illegal guns in our country, is higher today than it was three and a half years ago.”
Only a moron from Ohio, which is nowhere near a border, who peddles lies would come up with such a tall tale. JD Vance was referring to the Iron River, and it’s essential in the immigration discussion that we all know that it flows from North to South.
What is the Iron River?
The term “Iron River” refers to the large-scale trafficking of firearms from the United States to Mexico, where these weapons fuel cartel violence and crime. The term likely emerged from the constant, unrelenting flow of weapons, like a river, moving across the US-Mexico border. This metaphor emphasizes the steady and overwhelming volume of guns moving southward, often from states with looser gun regulations, into the hands of criminal organizations in Mexico.
Between 70% and 90% of firearms recovered from crime scenes in Mexico can be traced back to the US. Most of these guns are purchased in border states with more relaxed gun laws, particularly Texas, Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Florida. These five states accounted for 79% of the firearms traced back to the US between 2017 and 2021, with Texas alone responsible for more than 14,000 guns smuggled into Mexico. Trafficking networks exploit loose regulations, using “straw purchasers” to buy firearms legally and then transport them across the border.
This lie from Vance distorts the fact that the trafficking flow is mainly in the opposite direction—guns legally bought in the US are fueling violence in Mexico, not the other way around.
This is nothing new. The Iron River has been fueling mass migration for many years.
Please open the link to finish the story.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
When Vance made the claim, I knew Vance was lying or misinformed. I can recall reading about gun trafficking in “The Houston Chronicle.” Mexico has stricter gun laws than the US. Most of the guns in Mexico come from American markets near the border.
As of 2022, “the five cities that exported the most weapons to Mexico between 2015 and 2022 are Houston, Texas (2,452); Tucson, Arizona (2,156); Phoenix, Arizona (1,745), El Paso, Texas (1,658) and San Antonio, Texas (1,340).”
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In my years in law enforcement, I ran across a lot of handguns. Damned few originally came from south of the border, and what did generally were pieces of junk. There are makers in Brazil and Argentina (Rossi, Bersa) who are reputable (at least as far as quality), but they rarely showed up in street crimes.
The chief appeal is price and reliability – Bersa, for instance, makes a number of .380s, which are well-made. But I personally never saw one recovered in a crime.
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Did JD Vance make any statements that were NOT lies?
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JD Vance, like his cowardly leader Trump, is wrong about a lot of things that affect Americans. This gun lie is just a small example but too many of the Trump Cult mindless followers will believe. The flow of weapons south of the US border has been going on since the Olie North days. The cartels are laughing at the US all the way to the bank on this issue.
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This is a Republican characteristic: Stunning ignorance. They truly don’t know how any of this works. Hell, they don’t know how life works.
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Border zone gun stores are also making a financial killing from these weapons. The most popular gun sold to cartels is the machine gun.
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This is Traitor Trump tactic. And I think the traitor had Vile Vance trained in the dark-art of the Gish Gallop where a candidate attempts to overwhelm an opponent or interviewer, by spewing BS like a fire horse, an excessive number of arguments/claims that can’t be fact checked fast-enough to counter in the time span of an interview or debate.
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