U.S.-Bought Guns Killing Mexican Police

Assault Rifles, Armor-Piercing Pistols, Grenades Are Pouring Across Border

(AP)  Authorities are sounding the alarm about an influx of assault rifles, armor-piercing pistols and fragmentation grenades from the United States, weapons that they say are increasingly being used to kill police and soldiers fighting drug cartels.

U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials report a sharp increase in both the flow and firepower of U.S. weapons across the border. Particularly worrisome are assault rifles and "cop-killer" pistols.

Mexico has strict firearms laws, few gun stores and a mere 4,300 private licensed gun holders among its 105 million people. The United States, with nearly as many guns as people, has more than 100,000 licensed gun sellers, an industry that makes about 2.8 million small arms a year — and gun laws so loose that arms traffickers easily pick up any weapons they need.

Despite Mexico's gun control laws, criminals have long smuggled guns in from the United States.

"The problem is getting bigger because the illegal possession of arms, and their clandestine introduction to our country, combines with narcotics trafficking," said a government report to Mexico's Senate in June.

It said 99.4 percent of the weapons in the hands of Mexican criminals are suspected of coming from the United States.

At least 11,752 U.S.-sold guns have been found in Mexico since January 2003 — a tiny fraction of what remains on the streets, according to the report.

It did not give figures for previous years. But one indicator of a new gun glut is the fact that hit men drop their guns at crime scenes rather than be caught with them afterward, knowing they are easily replaced, a senior U.S. law enforcement official in Mexico said on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

Particularly worrisome are U.S. sales of Belgian-made FN-57 pistols. These fire bullets that "will defeat most body armor in military service around the world today," according to Remtek weapon's site on the Internet. They sell for $800-$1,000 each at dozens of gun stores within a day's drive of the border.

The weapons were unheard of in Mexico until they were used to kill at least a half-dozen police officers this year. Among them were Mexico City policemen Felix Perez and Jose Rodriguez, slain in May when a car full of suspected mobsters fired FN-57s, whose bullets sliced right through the officers' body armor.

In all, about 100 Mexican officers have been slain since President Felipe Calderon launched an ambitious nationwide crackdown on the drug trade this year.

"U.S. laws allow citizens to have guns that are authentically warlike," Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora complained at a recent news conference. "We have to find a more effective way of stopping these arms from flowing into the country and giving these gangs such significant firepower."

The U.S. Congress has so far resisted these calls. It's particularly easy to buy weapons at the thousands of U.S. gun shows held each year, where the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives stopped checking addresses of gun buyers after the National Rifle Association complained that sales plummeted.

Mexico also wants lawmakers in Washington to loosen restrictions on who can see gun-purchasing data, but that's unlikely given the strong opposition from the NRA.

The U.S. government is now restricted in many cases from sharing such information with local police departments, let alone the Mexican government, making it difficult to trace illegal guns or arrest weapons traffickers.

Mexican officials also complain that U.S. judges give firearms traffickers lighter sentences than drug dealers.

Mexican arms traffickers pay U.S. residents a profit of $20 to $200 per weapon to make purchases, the U.S. official said. The guns are then hidden in car compartments, truckloads of consumer goods and even small planes, crossing into Mexico in the same vehicles that carry cocaine, marijuana and heroin north, the official said.

The ATF says it is fighting the problem by sending more agents to the border and giving Mexico a pack of gun-sniffing Labrador retrievers this year.

U.S. officials also put blame on Mexico, saying officials rarely search southbound traffic along the border. But Mexican customs agents who do are often given a grim choice: "plata o plomo" — the silver of a bribe, or the lead of a bullet.

In February, Mexican customs agent Jorge Santillan seized a truck crossing from Brownsville, Texas, to Matamoros, Mexico, carrying a grenade launcher and 17 grenades along with 18 rifles and 17 pistols. The shipment allegedly belonged to the Zetas, a feared group of former soldiers-turned-hitmen.

Days later, the agent was shot to death with a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

Once inside Mexico, weapons are sold in black-market shops for double the U.S. price.

Mexico City gun enthusiast Daniel Aguilera described illegally buying a submachine gun from vendors in the capital's Tepito barrio, who let him test the merchandise on a stack of cans in a tenement building.

"Buying a gun in Mexico is a piece of cake," Aguilera said. "You can get your hands on one in a couple of hours, if you know the right people."

[erasmus6]

tbweb

I hate to tell you this but the Queen no longer rules over Canada. The Queen is just a figure head.

"The U.S. is completely independent..."

Hahahahaha, are you kidding me? It may be completely independent from other countries but the people themselves are RULED over by a corrupt government. Hahahaha, that is too funny.
The people of the U.S. have absolutely no say in what happens in their own country. In Canada, it is the people that have the say.

[my2centss]

"U.S.-Bought Guns Killing Mexican Police"

No they are not. The same people that you let across the borders are killing police.

[tbweb]

I don''''t think Canada has done too bad ...

Posted by erasmus6 at 08:14 PM : Aug 17, 2007,,,

Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. We will never really know what Canada can do on its own since Canada still gets its instructions from the Queen of England! Be a good boy erasmus6 or your Queen mommy will send for you and spank you! Can Canada come out to play? Better check with Queen mommy first! The U.S. is completely independent, Canada is not!

[erasmus6]

"At least we''ve become SOMETHING! The US has done more in 200 years than Canada will EVER do." posted by infidel_us

Yeah? And what would that be? I hate to tell you this but you are heading for the bottom. The only thing you''ve become is pathetic. Most people in Europe hate the U.S.

You may have been SOMETHING years ago, but no more.

I don''t think Canada has done too bad, unlike the U.S, we all have healthcare, clean and well managed hospitals, reasonably priced medications etc. Our whole country isn''t corrupt and I believe that Canada is well liked.

[swageking]

American Values: Individual Rights
After September 11, 2001, Americans face a dangerous crossroad. Will we realize, once again, the reason this country has become the longest lived, most stable government form in the world today and has grown to become the greatest power on earth -- respect for the individual, as opposed to control by and for the collective -- or will the tragic events drive us to restrict and weaken the foundation of our freedom by willingly accepting inroads against the individual''s rights in the guise of greater security? It is tempting to feel that we are lashing out at evil when we impose more restrictions on ourselves in the name of a national emergency. But it is important to consider which restrictions actually undermine our own ability to function as a free nation, and which are truely necessary to prevent those who hate accomplishment and freedom, and are jealous of all that respect for the individual allows, from striking again. If the constitutional guarantees against unreasonable search and seizure, for freedom of speech, for the right to keep and bear arms, are weakened or removed, then we have done the work ourselves that the evil-minded try to accomplish with acts of terrorism. VIEW THE REST AT http://www.customprojectile.com/links.htm

[azmka]

An end to prohibition would end the violence.

The drug war is un-winnable. The demand is much too strong and that won''t change. As you know, where there is demand someone, somehow, someway will supply the product even if it means killing for profit.

Ending prohibition has it''s pros and cons but it would stop the violence. What to do about extremely dangerous drugs like meth? I don''t know.

Ending Prohibition would end the need for large government agencies like the DEA.

We certaintly can''t let that happen now can we!?

[toldyouso21]

For some reason I thought the Prime Minister of Britan had more sway than the Queen these days. And doesn''''t the author J.K. Rowling have more money than the Queen? All kidding aside though, I cannot make our your affiliation, in one post it seems you are American, and in another Canadian. Posted by finewoven at 08:01 PM : Aug 16, 2007

Here is a tip for all other Americans who do not understand this distinction: In societies with royalty--bloodline TRUMPS money and political power--it really does. In the end, money is just an instrument that anyone can get--via legal routes or through nefarious means like selling drugs, or guns or wars or prostitution so there is not much store by that.

Political power is really just a token way of moving a society in a certain direction and letting others take the blame for it. IN reality, whether it is the titled bluebloods of Europe and the UK OR the self proclaimed royalty of American old blood--the true power and ''mover and shakers'' are not those necessarily with money but those with connections. And speaking of connections--those who fail to be connected to old money or blue bloods need not apply..... only in America is the dollar revered more than actual lineage and class. And Yes, I am an American, though I was born in England and still have a large portion of my relatives in Europe.

[toldyouso21]

America- the true Lords of WAr.

Never let it be said that our version of democracy does not extend to the selling and marketing of mayhem and chaos around the world and our insuring that everybody gets some.

Witness our success in Iraq, where we turned the occassional genocide and persecution of Kurds and Shia into a free for all where everyone can be killed at anytime, in a variety of ways, no matter which side they are on, Where they live, work, pray, shop or go to school, what they believe in or who they are affiliated with. We give the idea of FUBAR and equal access a whole new dimension.

[lostcountry1]

what i see here is the way mexicans do business in mexico. and we want to give them amnesty here? not all illegals are this way, but can you pick out which ones they are? maybe just enforce the laws about illegal immigration. keep them out, and keep shipping them back. another sign of mexico blaming us for their failed government policies.why arent the mexican officials useing army soldiers to combat drug cartels?is it because they are all being paid by the cartels? lets make an international incident out of this. maybe we can invade mexico, like they are invading us.maybe instead of shooting the police we could help them shoot crooked polititions.

[ivandrago]

Is this NAFTA? They sell us the drugs, and we sell them the guns to kill the cops and other gangs. Brilliant. Were in a mad spiral that shows no signs of stopping. We buys guns to protect ourselves from all the guns that we bought in the past that have gotten in the hands of criminals. Eventually the guns bought today will get in the hands of more criminals and the unbalanced. A perfectly insane circle.