ATF targets gun dealers to stem sales to Mexican cartels

msnbc ^

[jakerobins]

U.S. law enforcement officials have devised an aggressive and potentially controversial new strategy to crack down on the illegal gun trade to Mexico by targeting cartel networks inside this country and "corrupt" U.S. firearms dealers, according to internal Justice Department documents obtained by NBC News.

The documents also state that the drug traffickers appear to have expanded efforts to acquire firepower in the U.S. by tapping well-developed supply networks beyond the Southwest border region in order to acquire high-powered assault rifles as well as components for improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

The new strategy was prepared in recent weeks by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF)’s Office of Field Operations, in the wake of stinging criticism of current ATF efforts to stem the flow of weapons to the cartels by the Justice Department’s inspector general

[jakerobins]

So the Obama Regime is still going with ..It's American gun dealers fault the cartels have so many guns??

[DemforBush]

“...as well as components for improvised explosive devices (IEDs).”

I don’t know about ya’ll, but none of the gun stores in my town stock C4 or IR-beam detonators.

[mamelukesabre]

This is a crock. harassing US gunshops is not going to stop guns to mexico. mexico buys guns from american MILITARY arms dealers.

[4Runner]

I thought the cartels were being supplied by sources in Brazil and Venezuela?

This looks like an “October Surprise” in the making. An excuse to ramp up domestic gun control and to do it outside of the courts and the Congress.

[metalcor]

I suspect someone with 100’s of millions in cash can find weapons for sale just about anywhere he chooses.

[jakerobins]

LOL...Yeah I know the people at my local gun store pretty well but I guess the C4, Symtex, and TNT are just out of stock..must be waiting for the new shipment..LOL

[darkwing104]

Looking at this and other stories I believe that these weapons were smuggled in the U.S. from Mexico in-order to hide them from the Mexican Government. A safe haven to store weapons for a longer term war.

The ATF angle is only a show for budget justification. I truly believe the ATF is only a cover for the actual folks who tracked the guns...

[ClearCase_guy]

“People in foreign countries sometimes do bad things. And that’s why we need to infringe your Second Amendment rights. I’m sure you won’t mind.”

[Waco]

Naturaly the ATF will happily provide the straw purchasers.

[Eagles6]

Most of the guns come from mexican police and military armories or are shipped with the cocaine from columbia supplied by hugo chavez.

[ZULU]

ATF is a rogue agency.

It has no purpose for existence and needs to be dismantled, as Reagan wanted.

[Psalm 144]

Gonna burn any of them alive?

[catbertz]

We’ve seen the Mexican drug bust pictures with tens and hundreds of AK’s and other hardware. They didn’t buy these at Bubba’s Gun Shack.

[Psalm 144]

I suspect someone with 100’s of millions in cash can find weapons for sale just about anywhere he chooses.

***********

By the shipping container. RPGs and full automatic small arms. An AK47 in the Third World costs less than the handling and transportation -costs- would be from the US. This whole thing has always been a statist fairy tale from two corrupt administrations.

[DoughtyOne]

Anything to take the focus off Mexican nationals on U. S. soil...

Mexico is so much better at keeping contraband out of their nation than we are at keeping it out of ours. These guns couldn’t possibly be smuggled in over Mexico’s thousands of miles of beaches.

My guess is that some gun dealers in the U. S. will be found to have transferred a bee bee gun or some such, and their licenses will be taken.

Is this about illegal guns or too many legal gun dealers?

[yarddog]

I wish we had a president who loved this country and the constitution. He would give the BATF a barbed wire enema.

[One Name]

Our Founding Fathers were so naive; if only they’d had the internet.

They certainly didn’t foresee bad guys, foreign nationals, pirates or others presenting problems for the pastoral bliss of the New Republic, circa 1787.

They would have given the new Federal government an explicit right to suspend that pesky 2nd Amendment to keep the bad people from getting our guns.

[DoughtyOne]

BTW, is there an appropriations for the ATF coming up in Congress? If so, I’d advise all gun dealers to close for a few months. Either that or have their gun shop retrofitted to withstand tanks, flammable chemical powder by the ton, incendiary devices, shaped charges, and snipers.

Other than that, I’d say it’s business as usual for the gun dealers. Hell, that’s already business as usual for the ATF.

[Dick Vomer]

This is such a crock. The cartel's can get their weapons the old fashioned way. Via cut-out corporations in 3rd world countries that we provide military aid to or from the Russian mafia or Eastern Europeans.

I'm so sure that a mom and pop operation or some local yahoo can provide them with a couple of hundred AR-15's but what about ammo, night vision, clips, optics, and the high end sub-guns. Most of the wet work is with any weapon on hand that has ammo. The cartels could even go to Africa and obtain weapons from Middle Eastern countries like........ Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan, through Somalia or other African countries.

It's always been about money as far as weapons are concerned. The drug cartels have plenty of cash. The ATF just wants another excuse to throw a road block to owning and selling weapons by Americans.

[DoughtyOne]

And if they won’t, the FBI certainly will. Either that or one or the other agency will call up Weaver and strong arm him again.