Obama's Mexico Visit

Yesterday, President Obama visited Mexico and pledged to continue assisting with the drug war. However, Obama did not commit to renewing the assault weapons ban, which is something that he had pledged to do during his campaign, in his meeting with Mexican President Calderon. Yesterday he said, "None of us is under any illusion that reinstating that ban would be easy."

Obama also said that he would increase the number of law enforcement personnel along the border to search for smuggled weapons.

President Obama did acknowledge that there is a shared responsibility with Mexico in the drug war in that the US provides a market for the product and that the weapons come from our country.

I wish that Obama would reinstate the assault weapons ban because you don't need those kinds of weapons to hunt or even to arm oneself, and I really think that banning assault weapons could have an impact on lessening the violence in Mexico and along the border region. Additionally, the US has some of the highest mortality and injury rates resulting from firearms in the industrialized world.

As for the nitty gritty of the drug war, I also think that a serious discussion needs to occur about legalizing some narcotics, but Obama has indicated that he does not intend to have that discussion now. My impression is that with no real movement on legalizing some drugs and without reinstating the assault weapons ban that the drug war will continue and that violence will continue. Adding more law enforcement is only a bandaid solution.