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Posted on 01/23/2003 9:14:48 AM PST by dirtboy
Rangers say they aren't equipped to cope with illegal immigrants, armed smugglers.
ORGAN PIPE CACTUS NATIONAL MONUMENT, Ariz. -- When two gunmen affiliated with a drug cartel fled into this border park from Mexico in August, ranger Kris Eggle grabbed his shotgun and raced to confront them. As Eggle searched a dry wash in the 104-degree heat, one of the men hidden in the desert scrub opened fire with an AK-47, delivering a fatal wound under the ranger's bulletproof vest.
The killing came after years of complaints by rangers that they were badly outmanned and poorly organized for the increasingly hazardous mission of patrolling national parks. Organ Pipe is widely regarded as the most dangerous, used daily by illegal immigrants and heavily armed drug smugglers who have cut hundreds of paths and roads in the remote back country and have left behind tons of litter...
The Interior Department has primary responsibility for law enforcement in these areas, which make up 36% of the nation's southern border, but it is poorly prepared for the job, critics say.
The park rangers "are not trained, they are not staffed, they are not equipped for the mission," said Doug Scott, the agency's assistant inspector general...
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
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Most likely punched right through.
I saw a vest once that had plates that would supposedly stop a .308. I'd sure hate to have to test it out.
Funny how they don't have a problem with heavily armed liquor smugglers. Why do you suppose that is?
So9
Actually, a legislator in Arizona has proposed that the state National Guard be required to primarily train in the border area.
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