RPGs used by Mexican gangs being bought at US gun shows

[LAR-15]

Strict Mexican gun laws creating black market for U.S. weapons
By SERGIO CHAPA
The Brownsville Herald

BROWNSVILLE, August 16, 2005 — Mexico’s strict gun control laws are contributing to an illegal gun market and easier access to weapons, according to U.S. law enforcement officials that are close observers of a recent upswing in border violence.

Since January, more than 600 people have been killed in an ongoing war between rival drug cartels using high-powered handguns and assault rifles fighting for control of drug smuggling routes on the Texas-Mexico border.

Federal gun seizures show that a majority of weapons used in violent crimes in Mexico were smuggled into the country from the United States or bought through other sources in a lucrative black market.

Mexican law requires its citizens to apply for a permit from the Secretary of National Defense (SEDENA) before they can buy a handgun or rifle for hunting or self-defense.

SEDENA officials could not be reached for comment. The agency’s Web site shows applicants must submit to a background check as well as provide verification of employment and several references.

Federal agents that asked not to be identified for security reasons said the permitting process in Mexico is expensive and approval to buy a handgun or rifle (that must be .22-caliber or smaller) can take up to a year.

In the United States, the Brady law requires federally licensed gun dealers to run background checks on all buyers; the process usually takes seven days or less.

At the same time, Mexican law also prohibits gun owners from carrying their weapons in public. Texas gun owners can carry weapons if they have a concealed handgun permit.

According to SEDENA, Mexico has only two licensed gun manufacturers, compared to almost 200 in the United States.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms reports the U.S. arms industry is worth $1.2 billion and exports more than 141,000 guns per year.

Limited distribution in Mexico makes legal guns and ammunition more expensive than those smuggled in from the United States.

Ignacio Corona, a Mexican and Latin American Cultures professor at Ohio State University, said those and other gun laws put Mexico’s honest citizens at a disadvantage.

“All the weapons are in the hands of the bad guys,” he said.
But at the same time, Corona said it is difficult to predict how changes in Mexico’s gun laws would change the situation.

“If it was more lax,” he said, “perhaps it would be worse because there is no education in the culture on how to use the guns properly.”

[email protected]

 

[Sindawe]

The headline seems to be misleading, I see no reference to Mexican gangs using RPGs they bought here at our gun shows. Where are these shows? I'd like to pick up some RPGs for the next camping/shooting trip.

Reading 'tween the lines. "Mexico's gang/gun violence is the fault of the U.S. If THEIR laws were tougher, it would all be pink light and blue bunny rabbits."

 

[LAR-15]

Of course it's misleading.

Since when have you seen a non NFA registered RPG at a gun show?

 

[Sindawe]

I guess I'm just used to article headlines having relation to the body of the text, like they do in IT white papers and peer reviewed scientific journals. Silly me, this IS mass media we are talking about. :banghead:

 

[Henry Bowman]

Ignacio Corona, a Mexican and Latin American Cultures professor at Ohio State University, said those and other gun laws put Mexico’s honest citizens at a disadvantage.

“All the weapons are in the hands of the bad guys,” he said.

“If it was more lax,” he said, “perhaps it would be worse because there is no education in the culture on how to use the guns properly.”

Hello? Are you even listening to yourself? "Perhaps" we should ask someone ther than a professor...

 

[BrokenPaw]

Federal gun seizures show that a majority of weapons used in violent crimes in Mexico were smuggled into the country from the United States or bought through other sources in a lucrative black market.

What does this line really say? It says, "most of the weapons used in violent crimes in Mexico came from the US, or from somewhere else." In short, either from the US or not from the US.

This is a game we can all play. To wit:

Most of the photographs I've ever seen came from Oleg Volk or from another source.
Most of the boxcutters used during 9/11 came from Charles Schumer's house or some other source.
Most of you owe your very existence to me, or to some other source.

-BP

 

[CentralTexas]

Todays dribble

from Sergio-
Guns head south as drug trade maintains northward flow
By SERGIO CHAPA
The Brownsville Herald

MEXICO CITY, August 16, 2005 — High-powered weapons and ammunition are steadily moving south of the border as illegal drugs keep heading north, according to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

More than 600 people have been killed in acts of drug-related violence in Mexico since January. Almost one-fifth were reported in Nuevo Laredo where drug traffickers are engaged in an ongoing war for control of smuggling routes into the United States.

Violence fueled by guns and ammunition smuggled into Mexico have prompted American law enforcement officials to form a border crime task force and open a new federal firearms office in Laredo to help stem the flow.

Franceska Perot with the ATF’s regional office in Houston said the situation in the troubled border city prompted her agency to establish a satellite office there in June.

“There’s always been a lot of firearms trafficking and a lot of work in Laredo for the ATF and other federal agencies,” Perot said. “We’ve had a request (for a satellite office) in for years, but we’ve had a push now with the recent violence.”

The Border Violent Crime Task Force was created in April. Although ATF hopes to establish a permanent field office in Laredo, Perot said current funding only allows for one full-time agent to work there with others agents coming out of the ATF’s field office in McAllen as needed.

Perot said the task force consists of members from various local, state and federal law enforcement agencies along the border working to share intelligence, build a common crime database and provide training to one another.

Although it has not been officially sanctioned by the U.S. Attorney General’s Office, Perot said the group has met informally and has already appointed liaisons to work with their counterparts in Mexico.

Ramon Bazan, head of the ATF bureau in Mexico City, said cooperation between American and Mexican officials has reached its highest levels of cooperation to control weapons smuggling since the agency established its mission in Mexico in 1991.

“Once a weapon crossed over here, it was in a black hole,” Bazan said of past weapons smuggling investigations in Mexico. “But now they are pursuing it (prosecutions) on both sides.”

Bazan said ATF agents in Mexico routinely work with their Mexican counterparts to trace crime weapons back to who bought them in the United States and then use that information to prosecute smugglers on both sides of the border.

“They’re jumping on the bandwagon and prosecuting,” he said of Mexican law enforcement officials. “They’re helping us prosecute people in the (United) States by gathering evidence and statements from the people they capture with weapons here. We’re doing the same thing.”

Figures obtained from the ATF’s office in Mexico City show that Mexican authorities seized 3,611 American-made guns and assault rifles used in violent crimes in 2004.

Although slightly less than half of those weapons were successfully traced back to where they were purchased, ATF figures show that 1,238 —more than 80 percent —came from California, Texas and Arizona.

Bazan said most of those traced guns were obtained through “straw purchases” in which smugglers commission relatives, friends, acquaintances or in other cases complete strangers to buy weapons for them.

In Cameron County, 19 people in six cases have been prosecuted in federal court for making straw purchases or smuggling guns and ammunition into Mexico since January.

Exact figures are not available but Bazan said straw purchase investigations in the United States have lead to the arrests of weapons smugglers and purchasers in Mexico.

Gene Marquez with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms’ office in Mexico City said high-caliber guns and assault rifles are the weapons of choice for drug traffickers.

“You hear a lot about AK-47s being used because of their high capacity and large caliber that can penetrate car doors and everything else,” Marquez said.

Bazan said the new levels of cooperation between the two governments would also allow American officials to extradite some weapons smugglers to face more charges in Mexico once they are done serving their sentences in the United States.

“They’re going to use those statements to prosecute people here in Mexico that were ordering the weapons which was unheard of before.”
[email protected]

 

[boofus]

If they gave a damn maybe they would help patrol the borders instead of just whining like victims.

They aren't using Star Trek transporters to move the guns into Mexico. So catch the bastards.

 

[Henry Bowman]

“You hear a lot about AK-47s being used because of their high capacity and large caliber that can penetrate car doors and everything else,” Marquez said.

Much like a Ruger 10/22?

 

[MechAg94]

So I guess all those semi-auto assault weopons and lever action hunting rifles are what the Mexican drug dealers are using?


Shut down the CMP!!!!!

 

[scout26]

Bazan said most of those traced guns were obtained through “straw purchases” in which smugglers commission relatives, friends, acquaintances or in other cases complete strangers to buy weapons for them.

But THAT'S ILLEGAL !!!!! So that can't be happening.....

I must be going to the wrong gun shows. I never see any RPG's or (real) AK-47's.

Well I guess it's fair trade, we get illegal immigrants and they get illegal guns.....

 

[Eightball]

Federal agents that asked not to be identified for security reasons said the permitting process in Mexico is expensive and approval to buy a handgun or rifle (that must be .22-caliber or smaller) can take up to a year.

Wow, that would suck (pardon my french)--though, that would include what, a .22 and .17? Or am I missing some calibres there?

Silly me, I thought that RPG's had something to due with the story . So, they seem to be purchasing semi-autos and other things we're allowed to have (such as the aforementioned lever-actions)? This sounds more like a return to the Wild West (Yeee-haw! I'm gonna grab my sixgun and Winchester '73, and go get me some varmits! Only in spanish).

Maybe if it was easier to obtain firearms that weren't as appealing as AR and AK series (i.e. "sporting" weapons), then things would simmer down a bit? Just a thought for the mexican gov't to chew on. And, I'm probably wrong (as ususal), so I might as well don my flame suit

 

[Car Knocker]

It appears that the original poster originated the comment about RPG's. It does not appear in the Herald article.
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_more.php?id=66589_0_10_0_M36

 

[beerslurpy]

You can buy RPGs at gun shows now? Someone tell me where so I can pick up a crate full.

 

[Standing Wolf]

“If it was more lax,” he said, “perhaps it would be worse because there is no education in the culture on how to use the guns properly.”

Only aristocrats need apply, apparently.