Daily Border Bulletin - State Attorney Generals defend ATF, A closer look at "gun walking," AZ economy helped by Mexico and more

Arizona and Utah Attorney Generals defend ATF:  Former Arizona Attorney Generals Terry Goddard and current Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff have written an Op-Ed defending the ATF's efforts to stop the flow of  American guns into Mexico: "The focus should be on the real public safety problem underlying this controversy: keeping arms from the Mexican drug cartels and protecting the security of the United States. However, many of the roadblocks faced by ATF and the Department of Justice are not being built by international criminals, but by Congress."

New York Times editorial explores the Fast Furious - Operation Wide Receiver connection: This Sunday opinion piece examines how "Gun Walking" on the U.S.- Mexico border is a symptom of a much larger problem which is lax American gun laws which allow cartel members to easily buy guns: "Mr. Breuer said in the past five years, 94,000 weapons have been recovered in Mexico and 64,000 were traced to American sources. “We need more tools,” he said. To which Senator Charles Grassley, Republican of Iowa, predictably responded, “The answer isn’t to clamp down on law abiding-citizens or gun dealers.” There is no problem with law-abiding citizens. It’s Congress’s failure to ban sales of assault weapons that is feeding the drug wars."

Arizona benefits from Mexico's strong economy in trade: An analysis of the trade relationship between Mexico and Arizona reveals an important economic driver for the states weak economy. "Mexico accounted for more than a third of the state's international trade in the first half of 2011, when Arizona's total export sales jumped $1.2 billion, to $8.9 billion. It was the highest year-to-date increase in at least five years, the data from the International Trade Administration show. The bump in exports follows 10 years in which Arizona had the fourth-slowest growth rate among states in international trade, according to the administration's data."

Immigration at the heart of recall election for SB1070 architect:  Arizona state Senator Russell Pearce's recall will come to a head tomorrow, as voters will cast their ballots in this hotly contested election.  "The effort to oust Republican state Sen. Russell Pearce has transformed a normally quiet legislative district in a Phoenix suburb into a closely watched battleground on immigration that also features issues such as school funding cuts and state mandates on local governments.  People on both sides of the debate believe that removing Pearce would send a powerful message to the Legislature that uncompromising stands on immigration and other issues will not be tolerated by voters. On the flip side, a Pearce victory will say a tough stance on illegal immigration is just what voters demand."