The U.S. Guns In Mexico's Drug War

(CBS/Cami McCormick)

Walking through an evidence room at the ATF headquarters in El Paso, an agent points out a variety of deadly weapons — seized before they could make their way across the border into Mexico.

"This is a typical AK-47," he says, pulling one from the rack. Pointing out another firearm, he explains that it is capable of higher-caliber rounds that can penetrate armored vehicles. Yet another has a huge scope, "which could be used as a sniper-type rifle."

(CBS/Cami McCormick)

And then there is the "cop killer," (at left) a Belgian-made handgun capable of firing armor-piercing ammunition.

These are the weapons of Mexico's drug war.

With the murder rate in Chihuahua State (which includes Ciudad Juarez) going from 600 in 2007 to more than 2,700 in 2008, ATF Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Field Division, Michael Golson, puts the blame squarely on "firearms trafficking."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on a visit to Mexico, said Wednesday that America's inability to prevent weapons being smuggled across the border is causing the deaths of Mexican police officers, soldiers and civilians. (Read a full report on Clinton's visit.)

Now, the ATF is about to get some reinforcements under an initiative announced this week by the Obama administration. The money will help track down who is buying these weapons and from whom.

"We know for a fact that a lot of the weapons are coming from firearms dealers," Golson said. "They're coming from gun shows and flea markets." Often, he says, private collectors are selling their weapons because "they don't have the same restrictions."

Complicating things for ATF agents, the weapons often change hands before crossing the border. After which they can fetch a hefty profit.

"You're going to spend $8,000 and sell them for $20,000 or $25,000 down in Mexico," according to an agent who wished to be identified only as Steve.

While much of the gun violence has, until now, involved one drug cartel battling another, there is concern these heavily-armed organizations could turn their weapons on Mexican forces who have flooded the border area, and the war could enter a new phase.

"They have high quality weapons," Golson said, referring to the powerful cartels. "I won't necessarily say they're better than what the Mexican soldiers have, but they're compatible. They have pretty heavy fire power, military style weapons."

Enough to threaten the Mexican military?

"Sure," Golson said. "There are enough weapons going in. It could be a definite challenge for the Mexican military."

---

This story was filed by CBS Radio News correspondent Cami McCormick.

[mvpel]

Does this article represent the opening refrain of the scandalized Operation Fast & Furious? Was it Agent Brian Terry's epitaph as it was written nearly two years before his death?

Maybe now with the documentation secured by Rep. Issa we can figure out who "Steve" is.

[anti-oboma-adminastration]

wake up obama he is another hitler whats next burn the books citezen curfew after 8pm lmao what the hell is he thinking wow!!! haha ok im done now i hate that guy hahaha! ban guns..... what a moron with what army! oh the one we own! the people own! not to mention the average nra guy has bigger bettter guns than are army and enough of them to give every person on his block 10 guns a peace and geus what there is 5 nra guys on every block in america so **** you obama try it *****!!!!!! ******* *****!!! move to mickey mouse land or some **** sing about being gay with kids and get the **** out of my house!!!! and for all the readers out ther stand up and use your rights!!!! buy guns and say **** all day!! thats a good start lol! but seriosely its sick the way we are leting are goverment take over inch by inch we are the goverment they are are ***** slaves you understand that right!!!!? dont let these ***** pull the wool over your eyes or cover up there lies with there thin layer of baby powder over ther heeping pile steaming dog ****!!! i get tickets all the time from pigs and wow geus what i have had about 30 of them droped in the past 5 uyears because they are void by the constitution and they only reason i got those tickets is because the average idiot pledes guilty to them in court like a jack ass!!! so now they think they can do it now!!! stop leting them push you around i dont!! well good night all try to be more american! and also quit shoping at wall mart that is 80% of the reason we are in a ressesion!!!! dont let anybody fool you!!! clinton warnd you all and well you didnt listen now look and yes the deppresion is completly because of wall mart open your eyes or can you not see threw the wool? lol its all so simple reall they want us to believe all there fake reasons but nope there is only one reason its called wallmart!!! soon it well be the only store and toothpate well cost 50$ wow its called a monoply like qwest you want that going on with your ******* food and house hold items as well lmao i meaan what the ****!!!! wake up buy guns spit in cops face say **** all day and shop at target and in one month gas well be 30 cents a gallon and t bone steak well cost two fitty!

[jeffreywwilson]

You Sir are a MORON !!!

[anti-oboma-adminastration]

what i think is really funny is the picture up top of the weapons. i dont see one American gun in that picture hahah! what a bunch of idiots! that ak 47 is chines the others are Russian and and Korean i think a couple from is serial as well. watch cnn not to say anything bad about cbs but seriously you well see whats really going on! are government trys to cover up about 90% of the stuff that comes out of cnn by...well just not reporting it saying it didn't happen and twisting it 100 times in tell a nuclear attack is turned into a poodle on a skate board lol! they are so stupid you can watch the truth happening live hahaha and then an hour later the us tells the story backwords and cuts almost all of it out turns it all around! its SICKINING!!!! for example a hole was found in egypt like 1 mile wide and 4 or 6 mile deep that had a magnetic pull coming out of it so strong light could not excape it! was said to be a portal threw time and space. cnn did a speachial on it! it is also in omni magazine! was on the front page of the news pappers was on every news channel!! they had footage of it with all the scientis testing and exploreing it they were geting ready to fly dow into the thing! the follow up story was suppost to come out the next day and....nothing? all of a sudden it dosent exist lol hmmm strange? I have the magazine still from omni science they even talk **** about the usa and un in it lol for covering it up! and said they arnt allowed to tell the readers what there own scientest are learning about it ? Its classified or top secret what load of crap! any how dont believe anything inles it comes out of cnn! wow so there gos tghe first amendment now they want to take the second because some Mexicans are high on crack and think there tuff because they can pull a trigger lol what the hell who cares really! they need to learn on there own right they were living in dirt piles and tepees and their most powerful invention was the stick! and mixing water with dirt to make mud lol! it wasnt intell the past 50 years they knew of any thing other than that. in tell they came in contact with the rest of the crazy ass world hahaha they dont have guns and bombs or swords and catapults or cross bows hhaha or castles or knights in Armour just dirt and sticks. they had simple lives living off the land that's it lol no fighting over jewels no pirate ships lol. my point is there country hasnt evolved yet like others so tuff **** we cant do it for them! people need mind there own business! that's what has caused every problem and war in the world since the beginning of time someone wants what the other guy has or they get in someones business lol its so pathetic like we are all retarded monkeys lmao actually they behave much better and are far more intelligent than us humanes! but for shure screw obama screw bush screw hillary screw them all except nixxon, ronald reagon and well geus thats it haha even are first president was a peace of crap one of the biggest!!! lincoln was cool....ummm garfield a little and screw those comi bastards that want to take guns awy you can walk down the street with a chain gun on your back if you want yep a chain gun holds 1400 rounds fires 800 rounds a minute of 306 rounds ohhh yeah completly leggal no pappers neccesary!! if a cop try to talk to you you say i dont give you consent to speak to me! he has to walk away legally!! if he trys to take your gun lol well you have the right to protect your property and self to death if neccesary!!! its all in the constitution in black and white and as soon as i get my chain gun im freacking doing it f@#K those comi pigs!! im also going to mount a 50 cal browning to my crown victoria! completly legall!! actually i want to buy an armoured bank truck first! i like my rights and ill be damned if i die beffore i get to use them all!!!! another thing you can google how to make c 4 it takes about 5 dollars to make enough to blow up a intire stadium kinda like coors field lol 5$ thats it lol so for 5000$ just little old me or who ever could level 1000 fbi head quarters so dont go ******** about some chunks of steel that spew hot lead when a amuture chemest could take out every goverment building in colorado in one night with out touching a gun! and believe me you there are 1000S of chep ways to cause mass distruction with out a gun my point is! it's the stupid crack heads with the guns wake up obama you dumb ******* retard ******** ass ************!!!!!! yeah!!!! got to love that first amendmant maybe we shoul legallize the killing of drug dealers wow how easy right thats what americas all about boy!! lol! we can do that here! so lets just do it fix the **** thats what guns are for we get rid of guns we well really be ******!!! than there well be kids bombing **** with c 4 and we could not even shoot them!! what are we going to do let are goverment monopolize guns so what! THEY CAN ******* KILL US ALL!

[Workhorse95]

No, Dave lives in that area formerly known as Coahuila before arrogant SOBs like him decided to "liberate" the land from the rightful owner, Mexico. Now he wants demean Mexico with his cute little "formerly" comments that only prove his bias, ignorance and total lack of understanding of the real problem.
Posted by expatriate2
__________________________
expatriate2, no it is easy to understand the problem, you are an expat for a reason, no opportunity in Mexico, intelligent leaving in droves, no one taking responsibility for your country (except your poor president), a majority in positions of power placing money over patriotism (or dying if they don't like the poor president probably will), and every one blaming America instead of taking responsibility because it is easier. Did I miss anything?

[Workhorse95]

Our government supplied them with weapons, not us Americans. Maybe we should take the weapons away from our government and give them back to the people. Majority of weapons being used were Colt sold and Government authorized to the military, who earn bigger paychecks from cartels. Now our government says they can help by stopping "We the people" from selling weapons that are not being used in Mexico, hugh?

-- The Mexican Army. More than 150,000 soldiers deserted in the last six years, according to Mexican Congressman Robert Badillo. Many took their weapons with them, including the standard issue M-16 assault rifle made in Belgium.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elections/2009/04/02/myth-percent-guns-mexico-fraction-number-claimed/
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-02-05-mexico-police_N.htm; http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38075

[Workhorse95]

Read this article from a decade ago, and then tell me if it makes sense to buy an expense non-existent weapon in the U.S. or one of the plentiful weapons from the 100,000 Mexican soldiers that have deserted with their weapons which you can find stories about by a google search. Mexican Police make $260 a month to a max of $800, their guns would be a lot cheaper. http://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/19/world/mexico-city-journal-mexican-police-go-straight-now-that-s-news.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

[1940jhp]

The 90 percent of guns originating in the US is false. The number is false due to the method the Mexican police use when sending guns back to the US ro be traced. The ones returned are counted as 100 percent from the US. Of these ten percent are found not to originate in the US. Thus the 90% false report.

The Mexican police do not send guns to the US that are obviously not from the US. These do not have serial numbers or are of a make that point to other origins. Most of these are from Guatemala or other South American countries. These account for the majority of guns the Mexican police have confiscated. Even Hillary can be steered wrong by the press.

[jaypstewart]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elections/2009/04/02/myth-percent-guns-mexico-fraction-number-claimed/

[StevenGordon18]

I watched the interview with President Obama on Face the Nation this morning. I am extremely disappointed with his comments on Mexico.

Why doesn't he understand that we the U.S. have caused most of the problem.

He needs to stand up and have the strength to lead the U.S. out of this mess. Why is it so easy for common citizens to see what to do and our national leaders have no clue.

President Obama please do the right thing:
1. Get Congress to pass a permanent ban on selling all types of assault weapons.
2. Pass legislation that says people caught with an AK-47 will get a minimum of 3 years in Federal Prison.
3. Have a 90 day Federal amnesty -and buy back assault weapons for $1,000 a weapon.
4.. Make it a federal crime --min. 10 years in prison--for anyone who sells an assault weapon.
5. Send in the national guard and militarize our border in areas affected.
6. Start a national law enforcement task force to hunt down and arrest the Mexican drug cartels operating in U.S. cities.

This would be a start.
Then you need to legalize marijuana and take the profit away from the drug dealers. It should be controlled just like alcohol. We are never going to get control of the problem until we legalize it and regulate it. Did prohibition work??

Why can't we make bold decisions to correct these problems. Why can't the American government study the Netherlands? Drugs and prostitution are legal and they do not have a crime problem. Take away the profit from the drug dealers and the pimps and ban assault weapons and are national crime rate will decrease at such a rate it will shock everyone. Free the police agency's to focus on REAL crime.

THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS NEEDS TO STOP DOING THE SAME OLD THING---IT'S NOT WORKING!!!

Let's demand that members of Congress reinstate the ban on assault weapons and deal head-on with the crisis in Mexico.

[Texas_Dave]

I don't want to minimize the horrible situation happening in the terrorist narco-state formerly known as Mexico right now as the drug gangs battle it out in the streets. It is terrible that the law-abiding people of Mexico (I am speaking in terms of the one's who abide by U.S. law and stay in their own country) must have their streets turned into a daily war zone by these animals who fight for the cartels.

I do question however the overplayed role that assault-style firearms purchased legally in the U.S. (or acquired by non-legal means like theft) actually have in the street wars being fought over there.

I go to quite a few gun shows here in Houston Texas. I might see at the most about a half-dozen fully automatic firearms being offered for sale at any given show. In compliance with the 1986 laws, these few full-auto guns are old (pre-1986), extremely expensive (like a 9mm HK MP-5 selling for $15,000), and they are coveted like rare relics by their owners and those who can only dream of being able to afford them.

My point? These fully automatic, relatively new, and mostly Soviet-bloc machine guns that these animals are using to kill each other in the terrorist narco-state formerly known as Mexico are either coming up from the south, being stolen from the authorities, or they are being delivered to the Mexican cartels from overseas in the same fashion that the cartels are exporting their poison.

You think that the Mexicans aren't exchanging their dope to the Russians, Bulgarians, Asians etc. for weapons? IF YOU DON'T THEN WAKE UP.

You think that Americans can buy RPG's, grenades and grenade launchers, fully-automatic rifles and machine pistols here in the states??? IMPOSSIBLE.

The connection of American's right to own military-style semi-automatic rifles for hunting, sport and self-defense to the terrorist narco-state formerly known as Mexico's meltdown is PURE POLITICAL THEATRE. The overplayed and propaganda-like blame that the MSM, the Obama administration, the Mexican government and Mrs. Clinton are putting on America's gun rights is a direct attack at the second amendment that is a part of a greater Socialistic agenda...

I really think it is horrible that the terrorist narco-state formerly known as Mexico is so full of two-legged animals that will brutally slaughter each other and anyone who gets in the way over narcotics.

But the terrorist narco-state formally known as Mexico is a corrupt and unfair society that has allowed its population to fester in pure misery for so long that it now cxannot control it. These people fighting the drug war have lived like animals for generations....long enough that they have no remorse for the evil that they do.

If you want to blame American weapons for the body count as a result of this drug war in the terroristic narco-state formerly known as Mexico....wait until they try to bring their cultural failure over on THIS SIDE of the border....Texas IS READY to resist the reconquista!!!