IIRC, the M-16 is far from being the most common weapon obtained from drug gangs in Mexico.
The drug cartels are buying dispensations for full-auto rifles, grenade launchers and explosives?
They get Federales in 50-cal equipped Hummers to escort coyotes over the border, so why not?
Like I said; neither I nor the two articles used as sources here are making the claim that the majority of drug cartel weapons come from the U.S. Legally or illegally. But it is clear that a lot of hardware from legally sanctioned U.S. sources is available in Mexico and other Latin American countries.
More Than $1 billion In Private-Sector Weapons Exports Approved For Mexico Since 2004That means the total value of defense-related hardware and service exports by private U.S. companies to Mexico tallied nearly $5 billion over the four-year window. And that figure doesn’t even count the $700 million in assistance already authorized under the Merida Initiative [Plan Mexico] or any new DCS exports approved for fiscal years 2008 and 2009 [which ends Sept. 30].
Following is a sample of the types of arms shipments approved for export to Mexico through the DCS program during fiscal years 2006 and 2007 alone:
- • $3.3 million worth of ammunition and explosives, including ammunition-manufacturing equipment;
- • 13,000 nonautomatic and semiautomatic firearms, pistols and revolvers at a total value of $11.6 million;
- • 42 grenade launchers valued at $518,531;
- • 3,578 explosive projectiles, including grenades, valued at $78,251;
- • Various night-vision equipment valued at $963,201.
They get Federales in 50-cal equipped Hummers to escort coyotes over the border, so why not?
Yet you are making the case that the drug cartels are not armed with American equipment taken from the Mexican army!?! But they are getting American made Humvees and .50 cals complete with troops to man them??? That is a mighty fine line those gangsters walk. Hired Federales with Humvees and Ma Deuces but no M-16s.
Could you give us the source of your information and tell us what is the most common weapon taken from Mexican drug gangs? That would be helpful to us all since everything I have read says the Mexican gov, the ATF and our own State Dept. have been unwilling or unable to provide that information.
But that assumes the Mexican government, and our own government, really want to trace those weapons. A November 2008 report in the San Antonio Express News, which includes details of the major weapons seizure in Reynosa, Mexico, that same month involving the Zetas, reveals the following:Another example of coordination problems occurred this month. Mexican authorities in Reynosa across the border from McAllen, seized the country’s single largest stash of cartel weapons — nearly 300 assault rifles, shoulder-fired grenade launchers and a half million rounds of ammunition.
But weeks later, Mexican authorities still have not allowed the ATF access to serial numbers that would help them track down the buyers and traffickers on the U.S. side.