Since the federal law banning assault weapons expired in 2004, so-called "straw purchasers" have flooded U.S. gun stores in the Southwest, mostly in Texas and Arizona, sweeping up these and other weapons. Withhold all federal funds from any state if it or any locality is found in violation. But in all honesty the article above does not tell the whole truth about illegal guns in Mexico or South America as drug gangs also get guns from international arms traffickers as well, especially factory made full auto weapons. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. Why wouldnt *that* be the most obvious area to apply enforcement pressure, instead of law abiding gun owners hundreds or thousands of miles away on the far side of the country? We'll sell those guys so many guns they drown in them!" NEW YORK (AP) A former Mexican presidential cabinet member was convicted in the U.S. on Tuesday of taking massive bribes to protect the violent drug cartels he was tasked with combating. Known as "El Mencho," he commands the 5,000 member CJNG, nowas powerful as the Sinaloa Cartel but less known. Then, they were let go, because what they had done hadn't been illegal -- they hadn't seen a hand off. The survey drawn from guns identified by manufacturer or importer in U.S. court documents from 44 cases involving 165 defendants in Texas, Arizona and three other states shows the purveyors of guns to Mexican drug traffickers followed a time-honored maxim of product salesmanship: Bigger is definitely better. John Boch, you said: Photo gallery: The top ten favorite guns of the Mexican drug cartels By Will Tucker on July 15, 2011 at 10:07 AM Texas on the Potomac reporter-researcher Will Tucker has compiled a photo. Gunmen who left behind at least one M82riflewere seen spraying the armor-plated car ofpolicechief Omar Garcia Harfuch with high-velocity rounds. Guns and munitions confiscated from alleged Mexican drug dealers Alberto Sanchez Hinojosa aka "El Tony", Francisco Arteaga Espino and Leonel Cruz Hernandez are displayed to the press in Mexico City on September 7, 2008, after they were detained in Villahermosa, Tabasco state. Most of Mexicos gun violence (and violence in general) has primarily come from the cartel wars through the illicit gun trade and insatiable drug thurst facilitated by the United States. Modern optics, including AimPoint types and the distinctive Vism ECO 434 model were seen. Comparing it to Belgium and Czech and German Model 98s made the M70 look like a piece of trash. Sincerely, And then paperwork started. Further investigation revealed that from Jan. 21, 2020 to July 11, 2022, Hernandez had purchased 231 handguns 9mm's, .380's and .22's which officials suspect he smuggled into Mexico. Actively providing firearms to one of the most dangerous organizations in the world and You don't buy five to six of the same 10k rifle for a collection. So, thats bad, thats a horror. Roger Clemens makes surprise appearance at Astros' Spring Training, Hiker captures 'once-in-a-lifetime' photo of wildlife at Brazos Bend State Park, Houston Rockets poised to reap benefits from Eric Gordon trade, Texas congressman's breaks with GOP could lead to censure, Proposed Texas bill gives tax cuts to heterosexual families only, These bites won big at the Houston rodeo's foodie awards, Heres how you can watch 'Daisy Jones and the Six', Here's what Lina Hidalgo carb-loads before a long run, Houston police ticket man for feeding homeless people. ", After a couple weeks of escalating sketchiness, they reported the straw purchasers to the ATF, who immediately showed up to shut this shit d-, Sean Rayford/Getty Images News/Getty Images, Nope! All of the straw buyers were arrested in one fell swoop in 2011. It depicts one cartel member dressed in a garish shirt, cowboy hat and belt buckle. In Mexico, the weapon has disrupted the balance of power between criminal groupsand poorly equippedpoliceforces, according to Romain Le Cour Grandmaison, Program Director at the Mexico and Central America Office of Noria, a think tank. The drug bust was a multi-agency effort involving the. The group decries the name "assault weapon" and refers to high-powered guns as "modern sporting rifles." Try again Jethro your out of your league. Evening roundup with our editors' favorite stories of the day . Formed by ex-military men who became armed enforcers for the Gulf Cartel, the Zetas split with their former patrons nearly three years ago and have since become one of Mexico's largest and most . It's a more powerful version of the Beretta popularized in James Bond novels and films. Sorry, man -- at least 150 Mexican civilians have been hurt or killed by weapons the ATF let enter Mexico. Ebrard said about 60% of the weapons seized in Mexico in recent years were believed to have been sold in 10 U.S. counties, mostly along the border. John Allen Muhammad, the D.C. sniper, and his youthful accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, used a Bushmaster .223 in nine of 10 sniper-style murders that terrorized the Washington area in 2002. Two of those weapons were tracked to the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent: The whole mess immediately became an embarrassment for the Obama administration. Agents launched 534 investigations, seized $29 million and intercepted more than 1,200 guns, 4,700 magazines for semi-automatic and automatic weapons and 700,000 rounds of ammunition headed to. A Draco, purchased in Joshua, Texas, near Forth Worth, was used in the attack and shooting death of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata in Mexico in February. "We've got agents and we've got trained criminal investigators from the host government in Mexico working investigations in Mexico," he said. Hundreds of firearms on display before being destroyed at . Cant have all those firearms in the USA, so lets pipeline them to Mexico. Whats so hard to understand about that? In Mexico City, the military has a museum used to train officials, diplomats, and cadets about the war on drugs. Gun Companies The lawsuit over drug cartel violence could be part of a bigger change on guns. Instead, the ATF lost 1,400 (or more!) "Almost all guns recovered at crime scenes in Mexico 70% to 90% of them were trafficked from the U.S.," the Mexican government claims in its complaint. It was going on all over the city -- we knew we weren't the only store -- you've got plenty of evidence, you know where they live. From the finest gems, to gold-plated weapons, law enforcement officials say these accused drug dealers have a passion for flashy things. A close reading of the motion referenced above suggests that the deal with the Sinaloa drug gang may have included shipments of guns to the cartel to be used to thin out the ranks of rival drug . Being monitored by the ATF, so ", It was a good gig for a while. . is on the streets after a gun battle between Mexican security forces and suspected cartel gunmen, in Villa Union, Mexico . 2023 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. Cartels:As Mexican drug groups cut in on avocado sales by extorting growers, armed locals fight back. Diazis part of what cartel members call the Hormiga, Spanish for ant, referring to an ant trail of reliably flowing weapons transported from the southern U.S. to Mexico, said JaesonJones, who tracks cartel trends and previouslymanaged the daily operations of the Texas Rangers'Border Security Operations Center. No, they published this piece in an effort to get the US Congress to tighten Americas gun control laws, ostensibly to stop the alleged flow of guns to Mexico. U.S. Customs agents searched hisvehicle at the Eagle Passcrossing and found 43 shotguns, rifles and pistols. "They didn't look like they were all connected One guy came in with his wife and kids. Workers repair the facade of City Hall riddled with bullet holes in Villa Union, Mexico, in December 2019, after a gun battle between a heavily armed drug cartel assault group and security forces. In January, a Mexican judge charged. Some of the reasons so many guns come from Texas: people can cross the border on land or by theRio Grande River, and"in places like Houston and San Antonio, theres a gun store on every corner, said Will Glaspy, formerly in charge of DEA's Houston Division. But, one boy was a white boy who told me he had served. How about we lock up a guy who sold the cartels weapons used to kill people including Brian Terry. That's the NRA position.". So same basic rules as slinging coffee at Starbucks, only with slightly higher stakes if somebody doesn't buy your fake smile. The M82 can easily penetrate bulletproof vests, concrete walls and even tanks, says its manufacturer Barrett Firearms. The perfect moment to strike, of course! Andrea Waguespack is a features digital producer for the Houston Chronicle. "Operation Wide Receiver" was a subset of the overall project, centered around Arizona. Top ATF officials have said in congressional testimony that 90 percent of the guns submitted for tracing by Mexican authorities are from the United States. [nearly all the guns they bother to trace through the ATFwhich is basically those with US markings on them, duh], The underground trade of weapons to Mexico is worth hundreds of millions of dollars annuallywith American guns used to kill tens of thousands of Mexicans each year. Thanks for contacting us. *awkward shrug*, Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images News/Getty Images. Men claiming to speak for Mexico's most powerful drug cartel have released a video threatening to murder . btw ", Once the purchase was completed and the "customer" left the store, " the money was counted with the cameras watching it. If American made guns are somehow responsible for all this killing by the evil people using them, why do you allow them to enter your country so easily? Besides, the Belgian five-seven was supposed to be the ultimate status symbol], Tijuanas Director of Public Safety, Marco Antonio Sotomayor, says most of the guns flowing into his city come from north of the border. Holder and Obama spoiled the Mexican Cartels by sending them all those quality US made weapons while they ran the show in Washington. No secret, everyone knew it, too. Did that law get repealed or expire? He likes tacos. They have special loopholes that allow them to form their own government or something like that. And four years ago, two sons of El Chapo Guzmn were kidnapped in another restaurant 500 meters from where they shot the former governor two days ago. Mexican security personnel eventually turned him over to cartel gunmen after the arrest prompted a raging gun battle with extremely heavily armed fighters, including some with American-made . ", The Barrett is a rifle with almost no practical criminal uses. Follow reporter Beth Warrenon Twitter: @BethWarrenCJ. On the Shelf. Get the best of Cracked sent directly to your inbox! Really, who? Build the wall. 2- Declare Antifa a domestic terror organization. M53 gun truck "LIL SURESHOT", outfitted with a forward fighting box . For more insider perspectives, check out 5 Insane Things I Learned About Drugs As An Undercover Agent and 6 Ways Life In Cartel-Run Mexico Is Nothing Like You Imagine. This is another valid reason to vet second hand gun purchases because there often is no paper trail with second hand guns, especially guns that have been sold over and over again second hand. Among Mexican traffickers, it has earned itself the nickname "cuerno de chivo" or "goat horn" because of its distinctive banana-shaped magazine. Between all the illegal guns and millions in gold, jewelry and diamonds, there are armed guards on constant watch. So Ive just one question for you. The problem isnt cartels sneaking (civilian) guns from the U.S. The customized gold-plated handgun of Jaime Gonzalez Duran, aka "Hummer", founder of a group of hitmen called the "Zetas", shown to the press at the hangar of the Federal Police in Mexico City, on November 7, 2008. NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks with Ioan Grillo about the illegal flow of guns from the U.S. to Mexico. "Their goal is the bulk purchase of maximum firepower.". And how many bad guys did they get? If the laws actually worked, wouldnt Arizona, New Mexico, or Texas be the easier route? Some are Russian, some Cuban made. Pass a domestic terrorism bill.. It is also one of the weapons of choice for drug cartels, according to the. ), We want USA to be majority white! This article would have you believe the American guns are coming from civilian sources.. one point left out of the article is that the cartels also like American hand grenades. Barn Brain also conveniently ignores the fact that there are gunsmiths in the U.S. and Mexico that regularly convert semi-auto American made guns to full auto as well and yes they are second hand guns not vetted that come from the U.S. Miguel Diaz Calderon never made it out of Texas. Excuse the pun, but when are you gonna pull the trigger on this? Never heard of Obama? Now its used by more than 70 security agencies across the world, according to Barrett. For thecartels, the M82 has also become a status symbol. I'm like, 'makes sense, he's a military kid.' This is a carousel. We know theyre being illegally trafficked through California into Tijuana. [Theres no way for people to buy guns like those in California, either; they are not ban compliant], In 2018, the homicide rate in Mexico hit a record high of 35,964, spiking 12 percent from the year before, according to the countrys National Institute of Statistics and Geography. Im having a memory lapsewhich guns are made in Mexico, exactly? Gun-rights advocates doubt the accuracy of that claim. "It's hard to pinpoint exactly where we think a particular load (of guns) we seized was going,"Lestrange said. Eighty-seven percent of traceable firearms seized by the Mexican government have been traced back to the U.S. We've inadvertently "gifted" Mexico with more than 64,000 firearms over the last five years. According to my cousin who lived in Mexico City, for many years, the cops have a city day job, and a cartel night job. Mexico has very strict restrictions on weapon. The article, titled, "The U.S. Must Defeat Mexico's Drug Cartels", . Exactly, if America had adopted Mexican-style gun control, it probably wouldve had as many mass shootings as Mexico has had in the past 30 years. build the wall you promised us! Mexico remains a cautionary preview of what might happen in America if we adopted Mexican-style gun control.. How in the hell can any society withstand such incredible violence and not crumble? "We were being told, 'Oh, we're tracking their phones, we've got their license plates,' but it just kept happening. He pulls a paper bag out, takes out 10 grand in cash rubber-banded in thousand dollar increments. El Mencho:Daughter of Mexican cartel boss sentenced to US prison for violation of Kingpin Act. The tribes in America are not allowed to do things like that, instead they have to follow 3 sets of laws, otherwise a lot of white Americans would move to the reservations for some liberty. Earlier this month, theMexican government sued U.S. gun manufacturers in federal court, accusing them of fueling the violence. I mean all the enforcement is on the American side, very little exists on the Mexican side. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Cartels seek out military-grade weapons, he said: "The bigger the better.". 1 Make rioting in public while wearing a mask a felony with mandatory prison time. Automatic guns and rocket-propelled grenades follow drug trade routes back to China, Guatemala, and the black markets in Central and South America. Email us here. "As a result of the continued use and possession of many of these guns, residents of Mexico will continue to be killed and injured by these guns, and the public will continue to fear for their health, safety, and welfare," Americanattorneys wrote in the suit on behalf of Mexico. Ban assault weapons, high capacity magazines, body armor, silencers. (zero miles currently built 1 mo gov shut down trump heights built tho??? There were undercover agents in the store, sometimes. Even though CDN is a rival of CJNG, its members accept payments to allowdrugs or guns to passthrough their territory. In the absence of sane border security policies, Guerra said, drug cartels decide who crosses, and people in their organizations use the children to enter the U.S. Of course, thats not primary the message Newsweek and the mainstream media (not to mention Mexican officials) want readers to take away from their report. They want the firearms only in the hands they want so that they can execute their plan. Today, the two primary uses of the Barrett are "anti-material" (aka destroying enemy vehicles) and "ridiculous toy for rich people." Dear Mexico: clean up your own house before telling us how to take care of ours. , Mexican Drug Cartels Say Americas Gunms The Best , , , , , , fck n A ,HiPoint told yah so. [most of his city is north of the border so that shouldnt be a surprise. ", Yvonne Hemsey/Hulton Archive/Getty Images. A gold-plated AK-47 rifle seized to alleged leader of "The Resistance" drugs cartel, Ramiro Pozos Gonzalez, aka "El Molca", is presented to the press in Mexico City, on September 12, 2012. [see the above; Israel, China, Brazil, and many other big arms makers also chip in plenty. The California Maniac could just as easily bought a second hand gun and instead of killing people with it could have made handsome profit by selling it and more like it to Mexico because he is not connected by paperwork to what he is selling. The underground trade of weapons to Mexico is worth hundreds of millions of dollars annuallywith American guns used to kill tens of thousands of Mexicans each year. A total of 852, 29 percent, were from Arizona. As far as American guns being the best. Criminal organizations operating in Tamaulipas, Guerrero, and Jalisco were the most armed in the country, at least in the last year. It's made it easier than ever to drive to any Texas gun shop and legally stockpile guns, whether or not the customers belong to a Mexican cartel. A spokeswoman for Bushmaster did not respond to repeated calls for comment. . California already has background check laws & every other useless gun control policy you fools have dreamed up. The Hearst survey of court cases found these weapons among the top 10: The Belgian-made FN Herstal Five-SeveN: Some versions of this pistol hold 10 rounds; others have a 20-round capacity. Did they buy ammo? A gold plated pistol and jewelry, allegedly seized from Manuel Alquisires Garcia, aka "El Meme," sit on display during his presentation to the press of in Mexico City, Monday Sept. 12, 2011. Agents launched 534 investigations, seized $29 million and intercepted more than 1,200 guns, 4,700 magazines for semi-automatic and automatic weapons and 700,000 rounds of ammunition headed to. These firearms couldnt possibly coming through California. Hesometimes loaned his SUV tohis employees and his relatives and argues that one of them could have hidden the guns, Martinez said. After his arrest, Diaz told agents with Homeland Security Investigations he was paid $5,000 upfront to smuggle "fierros," Spanish for "iron," which he understood to be guns,across the border. Thirty-four. The Mexican government estimates that more than half a million guns are smuggled from the U.S. each year, arming Mexico's deadly cartel wars. October 19, 2022 The typical image of violent, heavily armed Mexican drug cartels tends to leave out one very important fact: Texas is the source for many of those guns. Lets review recent history Genius Boy. One exhibit features weapons seized from cartel members. By Ioan Grillo Bloomsbury: 400 pages, $28 If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org . Army officials said they confiscated 288 assault rifles, 500,000 rounds of ammunition, numerous grenades and several .50-caliber rifles at a house in the city of Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas. From 2006 to 2013, the program expanded until it exploded into the stupidly named "Fast And Furious" scandal. Diaz, who pleaded guilty, and Vasquezareawaiting sentencing. Last week, the Treasury sanctioned two Mexican businessmen and four Sinaloa Cartel members in connection with the illicit methamphetamine and fentanyl trade. Blood Gun Money: How America Arms Gangs and Cartels. Pass red flag laws. Answer (1 of 16): There a ton of AK and Russian type military machine guns (I've seen a Russian equivalent 12.6 MM of the .50 caliber machine gun mounted on a truck. As Mexican drug groups cut in on avocado sales by extorting growers, armed locals fight back, Daughter of Mexican cartel boss sentenced to US prison for violation of Kingpin Act. "You put on a face, like any customer service job, and you try to build a rapport with these guys. leaks of official weaponry bought by the Mexican military. For our source, who did nothing but exactly what the law told him, watching the bloody aftermath of the scandal was traumatic: "Our initial thought was how many of these can be pointed across the border at our guys? Why havent you closed your northern border with a massive military presence to stop south bound smuggling? Yes, Mexico has some house cleaning of their own to do, but it would help a great deal if the U.S. had much tighter gun control and drug enforcement. "The gun traffickers supplying Mexican drug organizations have become more selective and sophisticated in the weapons they acquire,"' said Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Washington-based Violence Policy Center, which extensively studied the issue. Serial numbers really do tell a story. Mexican military forces confiscated 71 armor-piercing 50-caliber gunsin the year ending January 2020, according to the Cabinet of the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Mexico. Court documents show such purchasers buying as many as 20 AK-47s at a time, paying as much as $11,000 in cash. Not all of them went to prison, and none of them were cartel bigwigs. It makes Americas 1930s Gangster Era a minor skirmish by comparison, and it has lasted much longer too. Mexican Cartels Are Arming Themselves to the Teeth With Powerful US Sniper Rifles High-powered .50-caliber rifles can be purchased legally in most of the U.S. and they keep showing up in the. weapons to Mexico. We sat down with "James," who worked at one of the gun stores the ATF ordered to sell firearms to drug cartels. In 2016, members of the Knights Templar cartel in Michoacan state allegedly downed a helicopter with an M82rifle, theMexicanlawsuit said. I bet they have favorite beers and hand grenades, too. GREENVILLE, S.C. . The Medellin cartel surged to power in the 1980s. Havent you heard anyone who comes to the US and gets a magic piece of paper is just as American and you and I. I mean the cartels. The Democrats gave them the guns. I could have sworn that at one time there was a federal law that banned face masks, a law intended to force the KKK out into the open. Yes Colt and Smith at one time made some very nice revolvers I will give them that but our rifles have been a joke for years. An estimated 19% came from California, 15%from Arizona and 25% from other states. So, the ATF was like, "We'll show you! MEXICO: Stop the flow of Immigrants going north and maybe we will do something about guns going south across the border. All Rights Reserved, Fed raises interest rates by 0.5%, the highest rise since 2000, Here are the 14 inductees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Mexico: 18 bodies found after suspected drug cartel gun battle The bullet-ridden bodies of 18 men were discovered in Zacatecas state after apparent confrontation between suspected. Within the next 45 minutes to an hour, they would come in. Houston pitmaster goes viral after hilarious TV interview, Houston is ugly, and I've never felt more at home, Astros GM Dana Brown has more praise team's top prospect, Turner: TEA is giving Houston ISD two optionsclose school or be taken over, Two ocelots were photographed crossing a road in rare South Texas sighting, Willie Nelson's new album is a lovely tribute to a fellow country legend. But then, he broke out the huge bag of cash. "He never saw those guns," his attorney told The Courier Journal. I would be one of the richest people on the planet. A recent report reveals 60 percent of all confiscated weapons in Mexico are seized in the three states of Tamaulipas, Guerrero, and Jalisco, with 7 out of 10 weapons confiscated coming from the United States. Not the party of civil rights,, wait the Democratic Party is not nor has it ever been the Party of Civil Rights as it has always opposed and still opposes the Constitution; it has been and continues to be the Party of Civil Right Suppression, the Party of Slavery, the Party of the KKK, the Party who opposed voting rights,, (just Google it, Google any historic Democratic Politician in history). "And they're sending leads up to us to connect the dots.". But as the government attempts to stem the flow of drugs across the US border - it is these military-grade guns which are being smuggled in the other direction. The reason the cartels had use for the Barrett is chilling: When you're as large as, say, Los Zetas, your "turf wars" involve the Mexican army. Oh. But, who gave the arms to the Mexican cartels? Vasquez'sattorney, Silverio Martinez, said he plans to lobby for leniency, even probation, arguing this is his client's first arrest. According to prosecutors, the weapons are believed to belong to the Valencia gang, allies of the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel, and most of the 31 pistols found in the raid had gold or silver-plated grips or glittered with diamonds. "These kids weren't sketchy looking dudes; they were all clean-cut, and some were Hispanic. Never mind that the majority of the cartels armament needs are met by leaks of official weaponry bought by the Mexican military. Straw purchases for others are a violation of federal firearms law. They know how to pull the wool over your eyes.". A museum in Mexico City has dozens of seized paraphilia on display. The M82 guns, often fitted with a scope to act as snipers weapon, can fire 70 rounds per minute with a maximum range of 2,500 meters. Newsweek, the defunct print magazine, reports that Mexican drug and crime cartels prefer American-made guns to use against their rivals and innocent Mexican civilians. Why doesnt it stop guns from going through their border into Mexico? It fires the same round as the AK-47 but is significantly shorter and easier to conceal. Fast and Furious was a Department of Justice Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) "gunrunning" operation in which the Obama administration allowed guns to be sold to Mexican drug cartels in the hope the weapons would be recovered at crime scenes. You also said: https://www.judicialwatch.org/corruption-chronicles/law-enforcement-sources-gun-used-paris-terrorist-attacks-came-phoenix/. Only if your definition of a thing is existing in quiet obsolescence. The Mexican government claims that more than 68% of illegal guns smuggled across the border are made by those companies, along withBarrett and Witmer Public Safety Group, which acquired Interstate Arms. Working together across 18 different countries over the course of 10 months, the consortium investigated the global networks of Mexican drug cartels and their political connections around the world.
