Guns move south via Inland gangs

The Press-Enterprise

Illegal guns being funneled into Mexico through Inland Southern California are arming a violent drug war that could weaken the Mexican government, a top federal official said.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Acting Director Michael Sullivan announced at the bureau's Southern California office in Glendale last week 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.

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 -- including those in San Bernardino -- said Karl Anglin, ATF Los Angeles assistant special agent in charge.

San Bernardino 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. San Bernardino police work in a joint task force with the ATF's Violent Crime Impact Team, which monitors the gun trade.

"There's firm evidence that independent drug traffickers moving the guns live in the Inland Empire 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 the Inland region. 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 Inland 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."

Smuggling Path

Riverside and San Bernardino counties serve as a transfer point for some of an estimated 7,000 assault rifles and handguns being moved annually and the bought in Texas, Arizona, Nevada, and elsewhere in California, Anglin said. The Inland region's freeways are major trafficking routes for the guns, Anglin said.

"The problem we face through the Inland Empire is that it's such a vast geographic area," Anglin said. "That route is a natural path for criminal organizations to move the guns southbound."

The guns are purchased by individuals who can legally buy them and then turn them over to a smuggler. In Mexico, 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. Last year in this country, the ATF turned over 1,905 firearms-trafficking cases, involving 3,536 defendants, for prosecution.

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.

On the Gun Trail

The Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency runs an information network with ATF and Mexican authorities. The firearms trade can bring some immigration enforcement efforts to a halt by undermining border operations, said ICE spokesman Brandon Alvarez-Montgomery, from Washington D.C.

"This is a huge concern because this one thing can throw off everything we're trying to do," Alvarez-Montgomery said. "We're trying to monitor something like human smuggling and someone's sending weapons to kill the agents that are helping us. It's a huge barrier to delay or harm our efforts."

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 increased inspections are not expected to have any greater impact on consumers already legally able to purchase firearms.

The ATF previously inspected gun retailers every 10 years but has increased inspections 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."

Cal State San Bernardino criminal justice associate professor Brian Levin agreed the arms trade 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."

Good find.

FUCK THAT THIS IS WHY YOU HAVE PLACES IN MEXICO LIKE OAXACA WHERE THE MILITARY FORCES ARE DRIVING OUT THE INDIGENOUS POPULATION FROM THEIR LANDS. THEY CANT OWN GUNS AND THEREFORE THEY CANT PROTECT THEMSELVES OR THEIR LANDS.

FUCK THAT THIS IS WHY YOU HAVE PLACES IN MEXICO LIKE OAXACA WHERE THE MILITARY FORCES ARE DRIVING OUT THE INDIGENOUS POPULATION FROM THEIR LANDS. THEY CANT OWN GUNS AND THEREFORE THEY CANT PROTECT THEMSELVES OR THEIR LANDS.

Speak on it, I'm glad somebody recognizes there is more going on down there than just a drug war.