Media keeps claiming false 90 percent figure for US as source of Mexican crime guns

The NY Times has an outrageously inaccurate piece on the US as a source of crime guns to Mexico (click through only if you want to encourage this inaccurate reporting). MSNBC reposts this NY Times piece here.

Federal agents say about 90 percent of the 12,000 pistols and rifles the Mexican authorities recovered from drug dealers last year and asked to be traced came from dealers in the United States, most of them in Texas and Arizona. . . .

Fox News originally explain the problems with this claim and the Washington Times also added some details. I also tried to explain this at the end of my interview on CSPAN.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, CNN has raised this bogus number to 95 to 100 percent.

Those who support the assault weapons ban as a way to curb violence cite figures from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that say American gun sellers supply the Mexican drug cartels with 95 percent to 100 percent of their guns. . . .