Gun Control laws, to be applied to Pre-Paid Cell Phones in Mexico

[virginia mountainman]

http://www.betanews.com/article/Gun-control-laws-get-applied-to-prepaid-phones/1247849061

Can't make this stuff up!!

[iverglas]

1. a fan of dumb headlines, I see

Maybe you couldn't make it up, but whoever wrote that one certainly could.

The closest anything in the article gets to it is this (my emphasis):

Similar to the way every gun sold in the US must be registered, so too must every prepaid cell in Mexico. Because of the anonymity and freedom the devices afford, they are frequently used as the central tool in intimidation, extortion, and kidnapping plots and are smuggled into jails to keep imprisoned gang members connected. Kidnapping is pandemic in Mexico, and though many go unregistered with the police, some estimate that more than 70 people are kidnapped in that country every month.

... Similar laws are coming into effect elsewhere in the world, such as in Greece, where Minister for Transport and Communications, Evripidis Stylianidis, said anonymous cell use by "drug dealers, immigrant smugglers and blackmailers" is hindering the police. In Greece, anonymous prepaid phones were used in an illegal wiretapping scheme during the 2004 Athens Olympics that targeted the Prime Minister.

Now, given how utterly wrong the writer got the whole premise to start with -- "Similar to the way every gun sold in the US must be registered" -- just how eager are you to rely on the accuracy of that headline??

:rofl:

[dhpgetsit]

2. We would be doing ourselves and Mexico a huge favor...

If we just legalized pot.
It's a no-brainer.