As Mexico drug violence runs rampant, U.S. guns tied to crim

[Lodge2004]

More of the media working on their narrative...

"No other state has produced more guns seized by police in the brutal Mexican drug wars than Texas. In the Lone Star State, no other city has more guns linked to Mexican crime scenes than Houston. And in the Texas oil town, no single independent dealer stands out more for selling guns traced from south of the border than Bill Carter."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02663.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[RPB]

Since guns are pretty useless without ammo...

I wonder why they didn't name Wal-Mart as providing most of the ammo used in Mexican criminal activity?

They need to close down the evil Wal-Mart stores.

[cowboymd]

From the article....

As an unprecedented number of American guns flows to the murderous drug cartels across the border, the identities of U.S. dealers that sell guns seized at Mexican crime scenes remain confidential under a law passed by Congress in 2003.

A year-long investigation by The Washington Post has cracked that secrecy and uncovered the names of the top 12 U.S. dealers of guns traced to Mexico in the past two years.

So, wasn't there a law broken here?

[A-R]

Washington Post is running a massive 5-part series on "The Hidden Life of Guns" ... this story is one part of the overall package (which is quite, shall we say, BIASED )

Anyway, this little snippet from this particular portion bothers me (didn't realize they'd done this) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 0121203267" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Makes me question whether I should spend any more of my money at Academy if they're going to voluntarily give up RKBA rights like this as a public relations move.

About seven miles west is the store No. 5: A cademy Sports and Outdoors , with 95 traces. A family-owned chain based in Houston, Academy has 128 stores throughout the South, including eight along the border with Mexico. With the violence increasing and more guns being traced to Academy's outlets, about a year ago the chain removed all tactical weapons, such as AK-47s and AR-15s, from the shelves of its border stores.

"We voluntarily and proactively took several actions that would ensure our firearms sales don't contribute to border violence," spokeswoman Elise Hasbrook said.

Academy also limits sales of such weapons, favored by drug cartels, to one per customer, counts its weapons twice a day and audits the inventory weekly, Hasbrook said.

[A-R]

More of the media working on their narrative...

"No other state has produced more guns seized by police in the brutal Mexican drug wars than Texas. In the Lone Star State, no other city has more guns linked to Mexican crime scenes than Houston. And in the Texas oil town, no single independent dealer stands out more for selling guns traced from south of the border than Bill Carter."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02663.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That article, and the entire Washington Post hatchet job, is infuriating

The little snippets of video linked from the story are even worse http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sp ... 0121203267" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So 115 guns originally sold at one of four Houston-area Carter's Country locations over an unknown time-span end up being used in crimes in Mexico or by illegal immigrants from Mexico. And that alone is reason enough for the Washington Post to portray Bill Carter as some sort of illicit provider of guns to criminals? PUH-LEEEZE!!! I haven't lived in Houston for more than 10 years now, but Carter's Country is still one of if not the largest gun retailer in town right? How many guns do they sell in a year? 10,000? 15,000? So 1% of the guns they sell are traced back to crimes and it's Bill Carter's fault? And the police officer's widow is suing BILL CARTER because some illegal alien killed her husband with a gun from Carter's Country? Why doesn't she sue the murdering illegal immigrant's wife for making the illegal straw purchase? Why doesn't she sue the Federal government for allowing yet another illegal immigrant to cross the border? We already know she blames Bill White for something to do with her husband's death (same woman from the now-famous campaign commercial).

I don't know Bill Carter. Never met the man. Don't especially like his store or his gun/ammo prices. But I used to use his shooting range in north Houston when I lived there and it's a very nice place. And the store is very nice and well stocked (just pricey, IMHO).

But I can't stand that this newspaper story is painting him as some "crime gun" pusher.

RIDICULOUS!

[Heartland Patriot]

Well, I was going to post this article, but you folks beat me to the punch. I purchased firearms from Carter Country before...all the proper checks were done, just like the law requires...if I make it down that way, I might just have to stop in and take a look around Carter Country...I might even find something I like and give 'em a little of my business as a personal Christmas present...BTW, I emailed a link for that story to Mr. John Lott...hopefully he can put out a rebuttal. And they say we don't have to worry about our firearm rights, that no one wants to "take them away"...yeah, right...

[EconDoc]

I have no doubt that most of the weapons used by the drug cartels were made in the USA. What I doubt is that the majority were purchased from dealers or bought face-to-face in the US. Here is an interesting factoid that I noticed on a National Geographic program called "Border Wars". They showed an M16 that they said was made in the US. Attached to it was a grenade launcher. The camera zoomed in on the grenade launcher and, sure enough, it said "Made in USA". Now, we all know that functional grenade launchers are classified as "Destructive Devices" by BATFE, and, thus, are tightly controlled in the US. Right next to the "Made in USA" marking was another marking that had been obscured by a big blob of white paint. Anybody want to bet that marking was either a Mexican military or police stamp? I am certain that it was. To my mind the pipeline for arms to Mexico goes like this: 1. Mexican government buys arms for their military and police from US companies. 2) Some of those arms are then stolen from the Mexican government by corrupt military and police officials and sold to the cartels. And, lawful gun owners in the US get blamed by the media. Any comments?

[A-R]

I have no doubt that most of the weapons used by the drug cartels were made in the USA. What I doubt is that the majority were purchased from dealers or bought face-to-face in the US. Here is an interesting factoid that I noticed on a National Geographic program called "Border Wars". They showed an M16 that they said was made in the US. Attached to it was a grenade launcher. The camera zoomed in on the grenade launcher and, sure enough, it said "Made in USA". Now, we all know that functional grenade launchers are classified as "Destructive Devices" by BATFE, and, thus, are tightly controlled in the US. Right next to the "Made in USA" marking was another marking that had been obscured by a big blob of white paint. Anybody want to bet that marking was either a Mexican military or police stamp? I am certain that it was. To my mind the pipeline for arms to Mexico goes like this: 1. Mexican government buys arms for their military and police from US companies. 2) Some of those arms are then stolen from the Mexican government by corrupt military and police officials and sold to the cartels. And, lawful gun owners in the US get blamed by the media. Any comments?

that's certainly one very likely scenario. the other is the drug cartels are rich and powerful enough to buy whatever arms they want (including grenades, full-auto guns etc) from arms dealers on the international black market. Why send mules to the US to buy semi-auto guns at inflated retail prices when they can buy full-auto guns for half that from the black market that also supplies genocides in African etc.

I'm sure some desperate drug gangs do get some guns from straw purchases and other means more closely linked to the US civilian gun market. But it's a small amount of the total.

[Skydivesnake]

I have no doubt that most of the weapons used by the drug cartels were made in the USA. What I doubt is that the majority were purchased from dealers or bought face-to-face in the US. Here is an interesting factoid that I noticed on a National Geographic program called "Border Wars". They showed an M16 that they said was made in the US. Attached to it was a grenade launcher. The camera zoomed in on the grenade launcher and, sure enough, it said "Made in USA". Now, we all know that functional grenade launchers are classified as "Destructive Devices" by BATFE, and, thus, are tightly controlled in the US. Right next to the "Made in USA" marking was another marking that had been obscured by a big blob of white paint. Anybody want to bet that marking was either a Mexican military or police stamp? I am certain that it was. To my mind the pipeline for arms to Mexico goes like this: 1. Mexican government buys arms for their military and police from US companies. 2) Some of those arms are then stolen from the Mexican government by corrupt military and police officials and sold to the cartels. And, lawful gun owners in the US get blamed by the media. Any comments?

That is true, but not the main source in my estimation. The majority of firearms come via South America alongside the cocaine;

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/ ... LBuZEhF61A

'...has only 125 officers for a thousand miles from the southern border [with Guatemala]...'

'...One of the most memorable images of the day was the constant flow of rafts on which to transport people and goods across the river illegally and in view of the authorities...'

'...between Mexico and Guatemala and Belize, as a wild country where drug traffickers and arms smugglers crossing the planes loaded with cocaine and land in broad daylight day, the police are ineffective or corrupt and the people, abandoned for centuries by the State, has decided to accept the protection of powerful criminal gangs...'

The AK-style rifles are cheaply produced and transported across the globe - legally or illegally. Chavez has an AK factory that supplies rifles and ammo by the container-load to Colombian FARC who supply them, along with their cocaine to the Mexican cartels.

[Skydivesnake]

I have no doubt that most of the weapons used by the drug cartels were made in the USA. What I doubt is that the majority were purchased from dealers or bought face-to-face in the US. Here is an interesting factoid that I noticed on a National Geographic program called "Border Wars". They showed an M16 that they said was made in the US. Attached to it was a grenade launcher. The camera zoomed in on the grenade launcher and, sure enough, it said "Made in USA". Now, we all know that functional grenade launchers are classified as "Destructive Devices" by BATFE, and, thus, are tightly controlled in the US. Right next to the "Made in USA" marking was another marking that had been obscured by a big blob of white paint. Anybody want to bet that marking was either a Mexican military or police stamp? I am certain that it was. To my mind the pipeline for arms to Mexico goes like this: 1. Mexican government buys arms for their military and police from US companies. 2) Some of those arms are then stolen from the Mexican government by corrupt military and police officials and sold to the cartels. And, lawful gun owners in the US get blamed by the media. Any comments?

that's certainly one very likely scenario. the other is the drug cartels are rich and powerful enough to buy whatever arms they want (including grenades, full-auto guns etc) from arms dealers on the international black market. Why send mules to the US to buy semi-auto guns at inflated retail prices when they can buy full-auto guns for half that from the black market that also supplies genocides in African etc.

I'm sure some desperate drug gangs do get some guns from straw purchases and other means more closely linked to the US civilian gun market. But it's a small amount of the total.

Yes - agree 100%. If you are the cartel armorer and it's your task to source 10,000 rifles and a few hundred thousand rounds of ammunition, are you going to embark on the hassle and risk of attention (from ATF, LEO, Border Patrol, Customs etc) of sourcing from the US in small batches - hiring the straw purchasers, US>Mx smugglers, coordinating them and their 'fees' etc, to get a bunch of semi-auto rifles - OR - simply place a call to your local friendly Guatemalan arms supplier who will bring full-autos in over the zero-risk Southern border, and deliver them to a location of your choosing for one easy, low payment. And would you like a few hundred Korean grenades at $6 each to go with that order, Sir ?

These cartels are milti-billion dollar international organisations and operate as such - it's just the low-end gangbangers who have someone smuggle in a couple of pistolas hidden in the gas tank.

[Skydivesnake]

Sorry - final post on this one; here's a more readable report regarding the porous nature of the Mexico/Guatemala border (rather than from a Mexican news website through Google translator);

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2010/12/d ... order.html

Cheers,


SDS

[Ameer]

The cartels get a lot of their real firepower from the Mexican army, either through theft or corruption.

The Mexican army gets a lot of their weapons from the US government or US defense contractors.

[ScottDLS]

As car theft runs rampant...German car manufacturers tied to crime...

One German car manufacturer, Daimler Benz, was tied to over 45% of high end car thefts as the manufacturer of the stolen cars.

[texas1234]

I flew into El Paso last night. Front Page of El Paso Times: MEXICO CAN'T CONTROL BORDER: "The Mexican Government has no control of its 577 mile border with Guatemala, where arms drugs, and immigrant smuggling appear to have free rein."

Lets see overly priced semi auto rifle from rude staff at Carter's Country to straw buyer, or much less expensive full auto rifle from Guatemala.

[A-R]

The Austin Statesman of course blindly ran the WashPost story on their front page today:

http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/gu ... _frontpage" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Par for the course. Not even sure why I'm posting this. Not like its news or even the slightest bit unusual for the Statesman to parrot what WashPost or NYT writes.