Mexican Ambassador's foolishly flawed logic in Fast and Furious argument

Mexico's ambassador to the United States is actually making the argument that Operation Fast and Furious so damaged his country's perception of America that tighter gun control laws should be enacted here.

What? Yeah, I know.

Via the Hill:

The Mexican ambassador to the United States on Thursday said a botched gun-tracking operation by America “poisoned” public opinion of the United States for the citizens of its southern neighbor.

Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan told a room of reporters on Capitol Hill that the failed Operation Fast and Furious, which has been the focus of a Republican investigation in the House for more than a year, “put a lot of strain” on U.S.-Mexico relations.

“Fast and Furious has poisoned the well-spring of public opinion in Mexico as it relates to the cooperation and engagement with the United States,” Sarukhan said.

“It does put a lot of strain on the huge strides that we’ve achieved with two successive administrations in the United States,” he said.

Sarukhan was on the Hill at the invitation of Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) to promote tighter gun laws in the United States, including the reinstatement of the federal assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004.

It long ago became apparent that the reason the ATF was forcing gun store owners to sell weapons to straw purchasers who would then 'walk' those guns into Mexico was so that those store owners could be set up and tighter gun laws could be enacted as a result. Fast and Furious was all about creating a political climate that would facilitate the passage of such laws. The lives of innocent Mexicans and at least one U.S. Agent have been sacrificed in the name of gun control.

Yet, when whistle blowers came forward after the murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was found to be connected to Fast and Furious, the jig was up. ATF was outed. In the many months since, so has Eric Holder's Justice Department.

Despite all of this, Sarukhan is pointing to Fast and Furious as a reason for tighter gun laws?? Fast and Furious is a reason for accountability at the highest levels in the U.S. Government, not a reason for further hamstringing law abiding gun store owners. Nonetheless, Mexico has apparently decided to help the Obama administration double down on the reason why Fast and Furious was implemented; that reason was gun control. Period.

It would appear that Mexico's formal position involves threading a needle that makes them look unbelievably foolish in the process. The good news is that Fast and Furious has gotten too big to be ignored.

The bad news for Mexico is that their position on it is akin to a 2 + 2 = 5 argument.