Total dead including common citizens, murdered politicians and cartel members was at 115,000 estimated for 2006 thru 2018. Diaz's attorney, Gregory Torres, declinedcomment. Andrea Waguespack is a features digital producer for the Houston Chronicle. Officers found all of those brands, except Century Arms,in the shipments smuggled by Diaz, court records show. If you want to keep guns out of the country, you do not appear to be making any real effort at it. It costs between $8,000 and $10,000, and it can literally put a bullet through most light tanks. In Mexico City, the military has a museum used to train officials, diplomats, and cadets about the war on drugs. They're probably gonna go to super-prison for that. A straw purchase is when someone buys a gun legally, but then hands it over illegally to another person. "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. "We have adequate laws on the books. Its just to easy to buy up second hand guns and ship them to Mexico. I'm a projects reporter, examining key education topics and other local issues. Explain again how the two assists are not in prison for supplying weapons to know criminals that used the weapons to kill US citizens. The government accuses gun makers and suppliers of knowingly flooding the market with firearms attractive to drug cartels. NSSF: The Firearms Industry Is Committed to Real Solutions, Todays Hot Weather Daytime Carry: Everyday Carry Pocket Dump of the Day, State Judge Issues Order Blocking Enforcement of Illinois Firearms Ban Statewide, Federal Judge Grants Injunction Blocking Enforcement of ATFs Frame or Receiver Rule, Protecting and Serving: Springfield, IL Police Seized Homeowners Gun After Investigating Her Report of a Prowler UPDATED, https://www.npr.org/2019/02/21/696561255/heckler-koch-fined-4-2-million-over-assault-rifle-sales-in-mexico, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Drug_War. Guns are funneled into the closest or easiest crossing into Mexico and they come from other states with lax laws. National Police Chief Gen. Oscar Naranjo, holds a handgun seized to Colombian drug lord and former paramilitary leader Pedro Guerrero Castillo, known as "Cuchillo" (Knife), as he speaks during a press conference in Bogota, Colombia, on December 29, 2010. Do it.' 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Did that law get repealed or expire? quoteClown shoes.quote. Lets review recent history Genius Boy. "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. Mexico suffered more than 40,000 fatal shootings in 2018, according to public briefings by Mexico's Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard. You don't buy five to six of the same 10k rifle for a collection. So same basic rules as slinging coffee at Starbucks, only with slightly higher stakes if somebody doesn't buy your fake smile. The drug bust was a multi-agency effort involving the. "It's hard to pinpoint exactly where we think a particular load (of guns) we seized was going,"Lestrange said. 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. Are insane ticket costs pricing Astros fans out of Opening Day? And he didn't want any ammo for it or any optics for it. 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Agents launched 534investigations, seized $29 million and intercepted more than 1,200 guns,4,700 magazines for semi-automatic and automatic weaponsand 700,000 rounds of ammunition headed to Mexico, Lestrange told The Courier Journalthis month. Gunmen who left behind at least one M82riflewere seen spraying the armor-plated car ofpolicechief Omar Garcia Harfuch with high-velocity rounds. 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. 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. Theyre American-made guns, Sotomayor told the Union-Tribune. They know how to pull the wool over your eyes.". 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. "These kids weren't sketchy looking dudes; they were all clean-cut, and some were Hispanic. If Diaz had sneaked his arsenal past U.S. Customs officials, he would have had to pay a "piso," or fee, to members of the Crtel del Noreste,or CDN, which dominates this area of northern Mexico, Jonessaid. Latin American criminal gangs have embraced social media and messaging platforms to spread narco culture and sell drugs. Last week, the Treasury sanctioned two Mexican businessmen and four Sinaloa Cartel members in connection with the illicit methamphetamine and fentanyl trade. We sat down with "James," who worked at one of the gun stores the ATF ordered to sell firearms to drug cartels. filed a lawsuit in theUS District Court in Massachusetts against the company and 10 other gun manufacturers. Maybe, he'll see this and send a thank you card. It weighs around 30 pounds and costs as much as a damn car. One room of the museum is dedicated to narco culture. Actively providing firearms to one of the most dangerous organizations in the world and If someone is breaking the law, go after them. Christ, John; do a little digging please, since this article is easily refuted/debunked, American and Mexican law enforcement officials say nearly all of the gun violence in Mexico is fueled by the illicit import and sale of U.S. firearms. As far as American guns being the best. 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. 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. None of this is rocket science and all the slick lies and smoke and mirrors Barn Brain attempts to use only discredit anything else he panders to an unsuspecting right wing crowd eager to hear preaching from a Messiah to the choir of the uneducated. It is also one of the weapons of choice for drug cartels, according to the. It was weird that, one, he came in with $10,000 cash. 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. Did they buy ammo? Cartels seek out military-grade weapons, he said: "The bigger the better.". Or is it because the CA border is not a barrier to trafficking contraband? How about we lock up a guy who sold the cartels weapons used to kill people including Brian Terry. "The brand names are inconsequential what matters is that our laws aren't being enforced," said Andrew Arulanandam, director of public affairs for the National Rifle Association. 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. It is cheaper at gun outlets in the U.S. Beretta 9mm. A Dallas man claimed he didn't knowassault rifles, pistols and ammunitionwere hidden in his silver SUV as he attempted to cross into Mexico from Laredo, Texas. ", Your elite government task force in action, everybody: "Guess we just gave the bad guys a buncha weapons." 2. It's a more powerful version of the Beretta popularized in James Bond novels and films. In 2019, a record 68 such weapons were captured. Then, they were let go, because what they had done hadn't been illegal -- they hadn't seen a hand off. Say hello to our favorite little Al Pacino movie: The Brian De Palma classic from the '80s that has cemented Tony Montana, his little machine gun friend, and Michelle Pfeiffer's stunning slip dresses in cinema history. is on the streets after a gun battle between Mexican security forces and suspected cartel gunmen, in Villa Union, Mexico . Snowfall is my favorite show centered around drugs - EVER. "And they're sending leads up to us to connect the dots.". floating around in pictures. I hear Chinese AK-74 types a. [see the above; Israel, China, Brazil, and many other big arms makers also chip in plenty. Gold-plated, diamond-encrusted weapons are shown to the press after they were confiscated when the army seized a ranch in Zapopan, Mexico, Sunday, May 2, 2010. 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. Drug cartels are known for heinous acts of violence and blatant disregard for law, but one more thing the outlaws are known for is their taste for the most luxurious items. Weapons such as the M82 are part of a torrent of illegal arms flowing south, Mexico alleges, partly due to the manufacturers negligent business practices that had encouraged illegal arms trafficking. 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? 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. If our source's store had just followed their guts and refused to sell to the most obviously sketchy buyers, the world would've been a little bit safer. We know theyre being illegally trafficked through California into Tijuana. El Mencho:Daughter of Mexican cartel boss sentenced to US prison for violation of Kingpin Act. 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. A handgun covered with gold and money sized to alleged financial agent of the drug "Cartel del Golfo", Manuel Alquisires Garcia, aka "El Meme" and also know as Agustin Sanchez Morua, are shown during his presentation to the press on September 12, 2011 in Mexico City. , Mexican Drug Cartels Say Americas Gunms The Best , , , , , , fck n A ,HiPoint told yah so. These agencies team withthe U.S. Bureau of Alcohol,Tobacco, Firearms and Explosivesto investigate the financing, transportation, and communications methods of smuggling networks. In May 2008, Mexican federal police raided a suspected trafficker house in Culiacan, a long-standing drug hotbed in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Court documents show such purchasers buying as many as 20 AK-47s at a time, paying as much as $11,000 in cash. 24 of 29 25 of 29 A handgun covered with gold and money sized to alleged financial agent of the drug "Cartel . The "El Presidente" model is popular in Mexico because it is one of the few guns legally available there, according to the Violence Policy Center. We'll sell those guys so many guns they drown in them!" Also FN57 pistols but, the Barretts were the big one. Thanks for contacting us. The weapons are sold legally but the purchasers must sign a U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives document saying they are buying the guns for themselves. How U.S. U.S. agents also are helping train Mexican police on investigative techniques and evidence collection and improving intelligence sharing, Lestrange said. 1 gun in the Hearst survey was the AK-47 imported from Romania by Century International Arms of Delray Beach, Fla. Century Arms, as it's commonly known, legally circumvents a federal law stipulating that imported rifles must be suitable for "sporting purposes." 12 of 29 13 of 29 Guns and munitions confiscated from alleged Mexican drug dealers . Mayor: HISD has two optionsclose school or be taken over, Rare photos show 2 ocelots crossing South Texas road, Willie Nelson pays lovely tribute to another country legend. Because they could be doing a hell of a lot more to fight smuggling into the country and to protect their own good guy guns from being stolen. Whats so hard to understand about that? MEXICAN drug cartels are using high-powered sniper rifles which fire bullets the size of cigars to take down police helicopters. Same questions. More than 40 people have been charged in the Upstate of South Carolina as part of a drug-trafficking case known as "Las Seoritas," according to Attorney General Alan Wilson . 1 Make rioting in public while wearing a mask a felony with mandatory prison time. Meanwhile, check out this picture of a gun cache from El Chapo's hide-out: That's a Barrett .50 caliber rifle, confirmed to have gotten to Mexico via the ATF's gun-running program. That leaves the military as the only ones able to battle thecartels.. Violence is rampant across Mexico. The Barrett M82 was a serious problem for security forces because its armor-piercing bullets can knock out the motors of reconnaissance vehicles and endanger helicopters, said aMexicanofficial, who spoke on condition of anonymity. One thing struck him as particularly odd: " as I'm ringing up the transaction, he has one of those little drawstring backpacks. This, by the way, is the Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle: It costs between $8,000 and $10,000, and it can literally put a bullet through most light tanks. "But we also know most of the violence the Mexican government is concerned about against police and against institutions is coming from CJNG and the Sinaloa Cartel" run by the notorious kingpin "El Chapo,"Lestrange said. I'm like, 'makes sense, he's a military kid.' In any case, "the trace itself doesn't tell you anything,"' said Lawrence Keane, general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the Newtown, Conn.-based firearms industry trade group. You have lost 4,020 Federal, State, and Municipal Police killed by the cartels. I bet they have favorite beers and hand grenades, too. 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. If the laws actually worked, wouldnt Arizona, New Mexico, or Texas be the easier route? Vasquez'sattorney, Silverio Martinez, said he plans to lobby for leniency, even probation, arguing this is his client's first arrest. None of the manufacturers, including Barrett, responded to Reuters requests for comment. Every once in a while, a dolt drops a gem. The indigenous people of Mexico do arm themselves and fight the government. Cartel forces seized a major regional capital city in broad daylight and defeated the national armed forces in open battle. 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. In January, a Mexican judge charged. 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 . But the weapons that Hernandez and his associates purchased ended up in the hands of Mexican drug cartel pistoleros, including the Bushmaster .223 that was later used to kill four police officers and three secretaries in Acapulco. In fact, according to Newsweek, cartel criminals view American guns as status symbols because, well, they work. After paying the piso and traveling throughCoahuila, Diaz still wouldhave faced a 14-hour drive south toMichoacn. Cartels often use drug profits to pay Americans to buy weaponsfor them at retail stores andgun shows, called straw purchases. Together the men funneled nearly 340 firearms valued at almost $370,000 to Mexican drug cartels. Since joining the Tulsa World in 1999, I have been a three-time winner of Oklahoma's top award for investigative . This is how the cartels get the vast majority of their arsenal. 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. Gunmen battled on a beach near Puerto Morelos as tourists scrambled into a Hyatt . He campaigned on "Hugs, Not Bullets.". Never mind that the majority of the cartels armament needs are met by leaks of official weaponry bought by the Mexican military. All the illegal purchases followed the same basic pattern, "They would always call, because they always wanted to know the exact amount ahead of time -- usually same day -- and make sure we had one in stock. ", 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! Alfred Guzman and Ivan Guzman are the sons of Joaqun (El Chapo) Guzmn Loera better known as the infamous kingpin of the Sinaloa cartel, which is North America's post powerful, and feared, organization trafficking drugs and laundering money worldwide. Build the wall. The perfect moment to strike, of course! 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. The main character, Franklin is brilliant. The 5,114 figure is simply wrong. 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. Gun-rights advocates doubt the accuracy of that claim. Other than "buying the same $10,000 gun multiple times" and "paying in whale-choking bundles of cash," there was nothing particularly shady about the dudes making these straw purchases. 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. Those Ma Dueces & full auto Norinco Type 56 carbines arent coming from America, duh], In addition to weapons from the States working better, Mexico cartels view firearms as status symbols, retired DEA agent Jack Riley told The San Diego Union-Tribune: It is really important to these criminal organizations, who stay in business by the threat of violence and through the use of violence; and the tools that they prefer to do that with are American-made guns. [whats the status symbol aspect have to do with anything? Two women were killed in the crossfire when rival gangs started shooting at a popular sidewalk restaurant in Tulum. If not, they should be left alone. All of the straw buyers were arrested in one fell swoop in 2011. American and Mexican law enforcement officials say nearly all of the gun violence in Mexico is fueled by the illicit import and sale of U.S. firearms. Even the much worshiped pre-64 Winchester Model 70s were laughed at by the Europeans when they were first marketed even though the pre-war guns were not all that bad but workmanship after WWII went down rapidly at Winchester. blames CJNG and the Sinaloa Cartel for the bulk of America's illicit fentanyl, U.S. Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. It all started in 2017, when Norma Llamas Rodriguez, 47,. CDC reinstates mask recommendation for planes, trains, While U.S. hits new job quitting record, this man set his own record 84 years at the same company, The U.S. housing market is historically overvalued. Weapons and jewelry seized to alleged leader of "El Cartel del Golfo" Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sanchez, aka "El Coss", are presented to the press in Mexico City, on September 13, 2012. No way the Democrats would support increasing the numbers of guns in the world. Of course, these same quoted Mexican officials made no mention of changing their own to laws to allow the little people to own some cold steel with which they could protect themselves and their families from corrupt federales and cartel predators. From the finest gems, to gold-plated weapons, law enforcement officials say these accused drug dealers have a passion for flashy things. He pulls a paper bag out, takes out 10 grand in cash rubber-banded in thousand dollar increments. build the wall you promised us! Hesometimes loaned his SUV tohis employees and his relatives and argues that one of them could have hidden the guns, Martinez said. Get the best of Cracked sent directly to your inbox! By Jared Olson. ), We want USA to be majority white! WASHINGTON Convicted gun smuggler John Phillip Hernandez of Houston was likely not the kind of customer that Bushmaster Firearms International had in mind when he purchased 14 of the company's .223 caliber AR-15s at Houston area gun shops in 2006 and 2007. 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? A row of glass cases are filled with seized weapons. The Hearst survey parallel the findings of a Violence Policy Center report from 2009 documenting 21 gun-trafficking court cases involving 1,700 weapons funneled to Mexico, as well as a federal law enforcement report this year, based on 2,921 guns recovered in Mexico and traced to original U.S. purchases between December 2006 and November 2010. He expected to be paid anadditional $5,000 once the guns were delivered toMichoacn, Mexico, according to court records. And that region continues struggling with. The No. This story has been shared 100,034 times. Automatic guns and rocket-propelled grenades follow drug trade routes back to China, Guatemala, and the black markets in Central and South America. Never heard of Fast and Furious? Robert Evans just wrote a book, A Brief History of Vice, where he experiments with strange ancient drugs. Serial numbers really do tell a story. Email us here. ATF agents say almost 100 of those weapons have turned up at cartel-related crime scenes in. According to my cousin who lived in Mexico City, for many years, the cops have a city day job, and a cartel night job. 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. The bridge connectsEagle Pass, Texas, to the Northern Mexicocity of Piedras Negras in the state of Coahuila. The Medellin cartel surged to power in the 1980s. Many interesting behind-the-scenes bits have happened during the 20 years of telling tales about our favorite trailer-park residents, Bobs never bought Christmas seals he told me he wouldnt know what to feed them, Below you, an entire other world operates. California, by contrast, accounted for 90 guns, three percent of the total. They weren't tracking them well enough; everyone made it over the border. We know theyre being illegally trafficked through California into Tijuana.. We'll sell those guys so many guns they drown in them! They have special loopholes that allow them to form their own government or something like that. At one point, it was probably four to five of these rifles a week. Mexican officials want to disarm America so the can finally claim Texas again and spread there filth into the lungs and veins of every Godless heathen that exists :). . Im having a memory lapsewhich guns are made in Mexico, exactly? Oh, surprise, surprise, who was AG of California when this was happening?? Once in the hands of cartel capos, however, the modern sporting rifle becomes very much an assault weapon. The place is called La Leche and it continues to be one of Vallarta's tourist attractions. Even got a few border agents killed with those weapons. What ARE you waiting on? The cartel can trace its roots to the 1960s and '70s, when farming families entered the marijuana business.
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