Cross the Border

One of the issues raised by the song “Cross the Border” on Tales From Earth, Inc. is that of immigration to the U.S. from Mexico and Central America, a topic that is being talked about a great deal right now as the D.A.C.A. act is debated. One factor that is not really talked about, and which is the subject of “Cross the Border” is the role the United States has in driving immigration from Mexico and Central America by allowing and encouraging the sale of guns to the drug cartels.

There are about 300 gun shops on the U.S. Mexico border, which is about 2,000 miles long, so a gun shop for almost every three hours of border. Coincidentally, the vast majority of cartel murders in Mexico happen within close proximity to the United States, and the vast majority of guns recovered by the Mexican government from cartel raids are of U.S. origin. States on the border include Arizona and Texas, known for their lax gun sale laws and for their residents’ opposition to more restrictive gun sale laws, much to the joy of the National Rifle Association and to gun manufacturers and shops that can profit from sales to the gun hungry, brutal and ruthless drug lords.

Mexico has one gun shop, in the capital, run by the military.

I recently added Karmina Dai’s awesome vocals to the choruses of this track, but for now offer this earlier mix:

Hey kid, wanna make some dough?
Just head down South towards Mexico
Get yourself set up with a nice gun shop
The sales are bound to never stop!

For some strange reason there’s no end to the orders
When you set yourself up at the Mexican border
Don’t let the proximity trouble your soul
Leave it up to the follks on the border patrol

Come fuel the slaughter across the border
But don’t you send us your sons and daughters!

If not from you, they’ll get ‘em someplace else
So don’t let the thoughts make you trouble yourself
There’s no way you could know that a piece that you sell
Will end up in the hands of the local cartel

Oh, there’s no need for a background check
No need for a card or a check
Just put out your hands and it’s filled with green
Head into town and make the scene

And fuel the slaughter across the border
But don’t you send us your songs and daughters

Oh how many dead Mexicans will it take
To ensure massive profits from the sales you will make?
‘Cause the newest board member of the NRA
Wants to buy him a yacht, and he wants it today!

So don’t you challenge our amendment rights
‘Cause we’ll fight to protect them with all our might
‘Cause hunting and protections what we’re selling ‘em for
Never told anyone to go start a drug war!

We fuel the slaughter across the border
And don’t you send us your sons and daughters

Oh where will the bullets go?
You’ll never need to know