By Jeff Riley

In his article "Mexico's drug violence is hard on Arizona", Washington Post columnist George Will is one of the latest columnists to repeat the myth that American gun stores along the border are the main source for Mexico's drug cartels.

Mr. Will is late to the party and misinformed.

This meme started appearing as far back as the summer of 2008 when the Los Angeles Times started publishing a continuing series of stories titled "Mexico under Siege".

Time and time again the U.S. is blamed for our "lax" gun laws that supposedly allow guns and money to flow south into Mexico, while drugs and human smugglers flow north into the U.S.

By Jeff Knox

Rights activists are shooting themselves in the foot whenever they advocate for mandatory training for concealed carry, and they’re shooting themselves in the foot a lot lately. There is absolutely no question that all gunowners, especially those who choose to carry in public, need to take their responsibilities seriously and seeking out quality training is just the beginning of the responsibility.

But legislating training is a seriously bad idea.

If it is reasonable and prudent to mandate training for concealed carry, why would it not be reasonable and prudent to mandate training for open carry? If that is reasonable, what about mandating training for anyone wishing to even own a firearm, and mandatory training for anyone who lives in a home with a firearm? If mandatory training makes sense, then what is the argument against mandatory storage requirements? The bottom line is that firearm safety is a matter of personal responsibility and that responsibility can not and should not be legislated by government. Personal responsibility is, by definition, personal.