Posted on 04/22/2008 1:20:48 PM PDT by 300magnum
U.S. gun stores and gun shows are the source of more than 90 percent of the weapons being used by Mexico's ruthless drug cartels, according to U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials.
"It's a war going on in Mexico, and these types of firearms are the weapons of war for them," said Bill Newell, the special agent in charge of the Phoenix field division of the ATF, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which has primary law enforcement jurisdiction for investigating gun smuggling to Mexico.
"It's virtually impossible to buy a firearm in Mexico as a private citizen, so this country is where they come," said Newell.
But U.S. efforts to stop the smuggling of tens of thousands of guns to Mexico, including high-powered assault weapons, have been hampered by lenient American gun laws and the Bush administration's failure to give priority to anti-gun smuggling efforts, officials tell ABC News for a report Tuesday on ABC News' "World News With Charles Gibson."
President Bush said today at a press conference that Mexican President Felipe Calderon again raised the issue of guns at their meeting in New Orleans.
Mexico's strict gun laws are being subverted by the easy availability of weapons in the U.S., the Mexican attorney general, Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza, told ABC News. "The Second Amendment," said the attorney general, "is certainly not designed to arm and give fire power to organized crime abroad."
More than 3,400 people have been killed by the drug cartels in the last 15 months, 2,000 of them law enforcement officials, according to the Mexican attorney general.
U.S. and Mexican officials say they have traced most of the thousands of high-powered weapons seized from the drug cartels to gun dealers in Texas, California and Arizona.
Assault weapons made in China and Eastern Europe, resembling the AK-47, have become widely and cheaply available in the U.S. since Congress and the Bush administration refused to extend a ban on such weapons in 2004.
Under federal gun laws, gun dealers are not required to report multiple purchases of such weapons because they are classified as rifles.
"If you were to go into a drugstore and buy 20 of these, there is no requirement by the gun dealer to fill out a multiple sales form," said the ATF's Newell.
The drug cartels' weapons of choice include variants of the AK-47, .50-caliber rifles converted to automatic firing capability and a Belgian-made pistol called the "cop killer" or "mata policia" because of its ability to pierce a bulletproof vest.
"It's in high demand by your violent drug cartels, their assassins in Mexico," said Newell of the ATF. The gun can fire a high-powered round used in a rifle.
An ABC News investigation found the "mata policia" and a wide range of assault weapons prominently displayed at gun stores along the border in Texas, the state providing the most weapons to the drug cartels, according to the ATF.
Under Texas and federal law, there is no waiting period for the purchase of such weapons and no restriction on how many can be bought at a time.
U.S. officials say there is little they can do to go after licensed gun dealers because large purchases, dozens or hundreds at a time, are legal for U.S. citizens and legal immigrants with an IRS green card unless a gun dealer suspects the purchase is being made for someone else.
ATF agents say legitimate gun dealers will often report suspicious activities, but that a small but significant number looks the other way.
"I have personally worked cases where gun dealers have willfully allowed hundreds of guns to leave their gun store knowing that they were going into the wrong hands," said Newell.
While the Bush administration has asked for an additional $100 million to combat drug violence on the border, only $948,000, less than one percent, has been allocated to the ATF under the White House proposal.
"We need a lot more resources," said the ATF's Newell.
"It sure shows a lack of concern on our part for this piece of the problem," said Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., who has introduced legislation to give the ATF an additional $15 million to improve border efforts.
I think they are referring to the FN57 but I could be wrong.
Yeah, Mexican officials are famous for their honesty and refusal to accept bribes so you can bet the farm that not one of them ever stole a firearm from the arsenal and sold it to a criminal or looked the other way while a boatload of guns just in from Cuba or Nicaragua was unloaded.
And everyone knows that no Mexican was ever robbed at gunpoint or murdered with a gun prior to 2001.
Yes - this is sarcasm.
Nahh - not the guns. Just the Wuss in the White House
(guess that is what the middle initial “W” stands for) who is responsible. The civil war along our southern border is due to the fact won’t build a fence or use the military to protect American citizens against an invasion of Mexicans. This has created a goldmine for drug and illigal alien smuggling gangs and they are fighting over the loot Jorge is so generously providing them with.
It is indeed a barfer. The Mexicans are not the “People” that our rights apply to.
We ought to be sending armed illegals back to Mexico - let them fix their country.
Oh yeah, tons of these around. Used in hold-ups at 7-11's daily.
...or something like that.
The 5.7 SS190 is an AP round and will penetrate up to Class III protection and is for LE use only in this country.
The 5.7 rounds legal for civilian use are not particularly
effective against body armor. If Mexican criminals can
get auto rifles from abroads and from their own police and army who can say they can’t also get AP ammunition?
It's always a cover for the 'more resources' (read YOUR MONEY).
If guns going across the border are a problem, BUILD THE FREAKING FENCE AND PATROL IT YOU MORONS!
L
The drug cartels' weapons of choice include variants of the AK-47, .50-caliber rifles converted to automatic firing capability and a Belgian-made pistol called the "cop killer" or "mata policia" because of its ability to pierce a bulletproof vest.
An ABC News investigation found the "mata policia" and a wide range of assault weapons prominently displayed at gun stores along the border in Texas, the state providing the most weapons to the drug cartels, according to the ATF.
Under Texas and federal law, there is no waiting period for the purchase of such weapons and no restriction on how many can be bought at a time.
U.S. officials say there is little they can do to go after licensed gun dealers because large purchases, dozens or hundreds at a time, are legal for U.S. citizens and legal immigrants with an IRS green card unless a gun dealer suspects the purchase is being made for someone else.
A straw man purchase is illegal and a federal crime.
The AK-47 clones are only semiautomatic and not fully automatic. Usually they fire from a closed bolt, which is a big difference. If you can find an original parts kit and machine the receiver, it is a violation of federal law to create an undocumented fully automatic rifle.
If you purchase multiple firearms during a month, you get on the ATF watch-list.
50 caliber rifles converted to automatic firing capability....this is absolute BS. You can't convert a Barret to automatic firing. If you could you would violate a number of federal laws.
Now as the the cute little FN new handgun. Yes its bullet has high penetration, but so do ChiCom & Warsaw Pack 7.62x25 handguns. Similarly most rifles, even of modest power will defeat a standard police issue bullet proof vest.
The question for the media and the world is if the RTKBA or the second amendment is a God given right and documented by the US Constitution, then most of the background checks, assault weapon bans, etc. verge on "infringement" of this right and are violations of civil rights.
The US Supreme Court case is really what this article is about and trying to provide talking points to those that want the Supreme Court to strike down the 2nd amendment.
I wonder if those smuggling guns into Mexico are illegal aliens... I’d be willing to wager though...
Mark
Thanks for the info.
There, see, a few more of those signs, and that should fix everything. Oh, and they might want to also put that sign in Spanish, just because we’re doing that whole biligual thing.
Mexican drug cartels have limitless funds and complex smuggling networks. They can buy anything they want. At one time, they even owned a satellite. They also own more politicians, law enforcement and soldiers than is easy to comprehend.
So, the ATF is saying that it is our fault and that we need to surrender our rights??? That bum needs to lose his job. So does his boss and his boss’ boss. The ATF is way past due for disbanding.
The article stated that people are converting AK's to .50cal fullauto.
That's not happening in the USA--it's happening offshore, whether Mexico or South AMerica.
THAT is the line which needs careful examination.
The assertion must be documented, and that won't happen
It's a budget-grab by ATF/E
So, what then is up with this BS story about Mexican criminals getting their firearms from the U.S.?
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