| | |  Americas & Beyond | October 2008 
Guns Funneled Through U.S. Fueling Mexico Drug Wars
 The Press-Enterprise
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| | U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Acting Director Michael Sullivan said that stopping the gun trade should be the agency's top priority and an obligation of U.S. foreign relations. | | |
Illegal guns being funneled into Mexico through Southern California are arming a violent drug war that could weaken the Mexican government, a top federal official said.
U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Acting Director Michael Sullivan said that stopping the gun trade should be the agency's top priority and an obligation of U.S. foreign relations.
"If nothing is done, it could severely impact Mexico's ability to maintain a stable government. We're seeing a record number of (Mexican) law enforcement agents killed," Sullivan said at his agency's Glendale office recently.
The ATF is zeroing in on shipments of American-made firearms moving across the border through the southwestern United States. Increased enforcement of the gun trade could mean greater oversight of gun retailers and gun shows, and more inspections for Americans traveling to Mexico.
ATF officials said they believe the gun trade and drug cartels are intertwined with Southern California gangs, said Karl Anglin, ATF Los Angeles assistant special agent in charge.
California State University at San Bernardino criminal justice associate professor Brian Levin agreed the arms and drug trade create a network of crime in local cities and threatens the Mexican government's democracy.
"This is something that has unfortunately slipped under the radar for the average American," Levin said. "One of the main elements of drug trafficking is the threatening use of arms. It shouldn't be any surprise that increasing violence in Mexico is leading to violence in the U.S."
San Bernardino, Calif., has ranked in the top three regions in the country for guns seized by the ATF from criminals and gang members, San Bernardino police Lt. Brian Boom said.
"There's firm evidence that independent drug traffickers moving the guns live in (inland parts of Southern California) and a lot of the guns stay here," said ATF Special Agent Maxwell Muse, based in San Bernardino. "We haven't got the mother lode yet, but we know it's happening. When these gang members get involved in the drug and gun trade, it makes for a deadly mix."
ATF estimates that 95 percent of the weapons currently in Mexico are American made and a portion are moving south of the border through inland Southern California. The gun trade fuels multiple drug cartels that rule the border and help move drugs between Canada and Colombia.
The majority of guns moved through California come from other states, such as Arizona and Nevada, where laws are less restrictive than California's 30-day waiting period and assault rifle ban. The weapons can then be transported south, but local authorities believe a portion of them remain in California cities.
U.S. dealers are able to turn a quick profit of up to about $5,000 per gun sold in Mexico, Sullivan said. They can either move the guns in exchange for cash or as part of a deal to bring drugs back into the United States.
"What we have is a relationship between the narcotics trafficking with the gun trade moving south," Anglin said. "It turned out to be a bigger problem than we thought. It's all related -- we know drugs are coming north on the same route where the guns are moving south."
Riverside and San Bernardino counties serve as a transfer point for some of an estimated 7,000 assault rifles and handguns being moved. "That route is a natural path for criminal organizations to move the guns southbound," Anglin said.
The guns are purchased by individuals who can legally buy them, who then turn them over to a smuggler. In Mexico, legal gun purchases are restricted to law enforcement and the military.
The American guns can be sold at five times what they cost to purchase in the United States, Sullivan said. Guns purchased in the U.S. are carried over the border sometimes individually or a few at a time, hidden in cars.
The Mexican attorney general announced last week plans for the government there to begin searching 10 percent of the 230,000 vehicles leaving the U.S. daily. The previous inspection rate varied. The announcement comes after an escalation of violence on the Mexican side related to the drug trade and guns that have been smuggled from the U.S., Sullivan said.
"We're seeing government leaders assassinated and officers killed on the border. The effort is not limited to Mexican officials. We recognize we should be equally committed and we're beefing up our division to counter that," Sullivan said.
U.S. officials are working with Mexican authorities to trace serial numbers and ballistics of guns seized there back to where they were purchased in the states, and, potentially, to the buyers who sent them to Mexico.
ATF is also increasing inspections of gun retailers and gun shows in the United States to monitor sales records and specific buyers who may be purchasing large numbers of weapons.
The ATF previously inspected gun retailers every 10 years but has increased them to every six years. The agency's goal is to do inspections every three to five years to closely monitor buyers who may be moving the guns to Mexico.
ATF officials work to extradite suspected gun smugglers caught in Mexico back to the United States to face prosecution, including Mexican citizens.
"Our goal is shutting this operation down," Sullivan said. "Every piece of the puzzle might take down a single individual or a whole organization." |
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