
       Here's a question:  If most marijuana is domestic and
producing it here is economical, why would we expect it to be
imported?


       Yet it was done.  Done quite successfully for a number of years.
*Somebody* thought it was worth the risk.


       Your assumption is that this "low" dollar/pound area is
sufficiently low as to make gun-running unprofitable.  On what
do you base this?  

       And given that smuggling channels are already established,
and given the economies of scale, would it really add significantly
more expense to start smuggling firearms, especially considering
doing so would be less hazardous (in terms of getting caught) than
drugs?


       Now *that* was a jump.  In any case, define "local."  It's
a big country.
 

       Wow, you gotta love the speculation.

       As I posted before, we import billions upon billions of raw
ores across the Mexican border.  Not only that but ships come in and
out of U.S. harbors every day full stuff.  And customs doesn't even
have the extra advantage of being able to sniff them out.  

       I'd be willing to wager that a shipload of handguns would be
worth more than a shipload of raw ore, *and* you're virtually guaranteed
to get it past customs, because they'd have to hand search every hold of
every ship which came through.

       It's not simply a matter of how much money are they worth, but how
much *more* money are they worth than other goods, based on the likelihood
of being caught.  Less money than drugs, but also a safer thing to smuggle.
