Trucker accidentally transporting ammo to Mexico highlights inequity in laws

Gun Rights Examiner ^ | 24 April, 2012 | David Codrea

[marktwain]

“Mexican federal prosecutors will press charges against the U.S. trucker who may have accidentally crossed into Juárez with 268,000 rounds of ammunition last week, a source familiar with the investigation said Monday,” the El Paso Times reports today.

The driver, who took a wrong turn and ended up on the Bridge of the Americas, and who was reportedly told by an officer that the only way to turn around was to cross the Mexican border, “could face between four and 15 years in prison if charged with possession, and between 10 and 25 years if charged with introduction.”

This is hardly the same treatment given to Mexicans last year when “military trucks…loaded down with soldiers and weapons” ended up on the U.S. side of the border.

It’s also not the first time a case of negligently transporting ammunition to Mexico has created severe legal problems, in this case, a lifetime disability on the “prohibited persons” list for Thomas Lamar Bean. As reported by the Associated Press, Bean was “a licensed federal firearms dealer when he was arrested in Mexico in March 1998. Before crossing the border for dinner, he had ordered his associates to remove any guns or ammunition from the vehicle, but more than 200 bullets in an armrest tray were overlooked. Bean spent 5 months in a Mexican prison before he was returned to the U.S. as part of a prisoner exchange program, then spent another month in a federal lockup.”

But that wasn’t the end of it. Because he had a foreign felony conviction on his record, he became a “prohibited person” under U.S. law. While Gov. Rick Perry restored Bean’s rights under Texas law, the federal proscription remains.

[marktwain]

Insane as it may sound, Jews convicted in Nazi Germany of Nazi felonies, are prohibited from owning guns in the United States.

[Travis McGee]

In retrospect, he should have parked his rig on the US side, called his boss, and waited for instructions. But under no circumstances should he have driven one inch into Mexico.

[healy61]

I have never heard that. Why do Jews not defend themselves?

[from occupied ga]

Insane as it may sound, Jews convicted in Nazi Germany of Nazi felonies, are prohibited from owning guns in the United States.

It's only insane to you and me. To a government bureaucrat it makes perfect sense. To the bureaucratic mind governments can do no wrong. To the bureaucratic mind laws are sacred no matter how illogical they are. Stuff like this is why the framers included the 2nd amend.

[Colonel_Flagg]

Perhaps Holder’s guns that ‘accidentally’ wound up there needed fresh supplies.

[know-the-law]

Wasn’t the driver pulled over several miles into Mexico???

[CORedneck]

I would have demanded to be towed out.

[X-spurt]

If so that would be most interesting indeed.
Any details?

[TYVets]

The driver, who took a wrong turn and ended up on the Bridge of the Americas, and who was reportedly told by an officer that the only way to turn around was to cross the Mexican border,

A federal officer tells him to cross the border. The beginning of Fast & Furious II?

The ammo will be there waiting for the time when 0bama can be very flexible.

[mamelukesabre]

Those aren’t bureaucrats, those are Vogons!

[chainsaw]

That bridge in El Paso is heavily marked. There is no way he didn’t now he wasn’t entering Mexico.

[chainsaw]

That bridge in El Paso is heavily marked. There is no way he didn’t know he wasn’t entering Mexico.

[Buckeye McFrog]

This story does not pass the smell test.

There is NO WAY if you are driving around that you can cross an International Border by accident. No sir, no way, no how. I used to live near the border with Canada and the warnings signs for last exit were there for miles and miles on the highway.

This is another phase of Fast and Furious intended to target ammo sales.

[JimRed]

The driver, who took a wrong turn and ended up on the Bridge of the Americas...

Hey, taking a wrong turn in many major U.S. cities (and probably a few smaller ones too) can get you killed if you’re not one of Holder’s peeps!

[know-the-law]

I read it somewhere [can;t remember where] which is why I was asking.

[marktwain]

I have been by that intersection many times. I am always very careful to avoid being forced into the lanes going into Mexico.

It is not beyond belief that a trucker, unfamiliar with the area, could get boxed in by traffic and forced into the wrong lanes. It is reported that he asked to be able to turn around, and was told that the *only way* to do it was to go to Mexico.

I have no trouble believing that account.

[marktwain]

You are exactly right. It was likely crucial information that he did not understand. We do not know if he told the person on the American side of the border that he had the ammo.

[rawhide]

Agree. Better to have been arrested on US soil, if so be.

[X-spurt]

If he was “turning around” several miles inside Mexico, then the Federales are right.

Never been across the bridge at El Paso, but you would think that there was some way for doing a U-turn on our side. One of our GOV employees may have been just too lazy to open the gate.