Posted on 05/30/2011 10:53:21 PM PDT by smokingfrog
Convicted gun smuggler John Phillip Hernandez of Houston was likely not the kind of customer that Bushmaster Firearms International had in mind when he purchased 14 of their .223-caliber AR-15s at Houston area gun shops in 2006 and 2007.
Bushmaster describes the AR-15 rifles, a civilian version of the U.S. military's standard-issue M-16, as intended "for law enforcement, security and private consumer use.“ But the weapons Hernandez and his associates purchased ended up in the hands of Mexican drug cartel pistoleros, including a Bushmaster .223 that was used to kill four police officers and three secretaries in Acapulco.
A Hearst Newspapers survey of 1,600 guns purchased mostly in Texas and Arizona - which were either shipped to Mexico or intercepted en route - shows the Bushmaster .223 AR-15 ranks second among firearms apparently used in drug warfare.
The survey - drawn from guns identified by manufacturer or importer in U.S. court documents from 44 cases involving 165 defendants in Texas, Arizona and three other states - shows the purveyors of guns to Mexican drug traffickers followed a time-honored maxim of product salesmanship: Bigger is definitely better.
In the world of assault-type weaponry, power is measured by bullet caliber, velocity and range, as well rapidity of fire and ammunition magazine capacity.
"The gun traffickers supplying Mexican drug organizations have become more selective and sophisticated in the weapons they acquire,"' said Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Washington-based Violence Policy Center, which extensively studied the issue. "Their goal is the bulk purchase of maximum firepower."
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
“The gun traffickers supplying Mexican drug organizations have become more selective and sophisticated in the weapons they acquire,”’ said Kristen Rand...
No problem, Kristen - just place your cartel’s order with the BATFE, and they’ll be happy to send ‘em along!
“A Hearst Newspapers survey of 1,600 guns purchased mostly in Texas and Arizona - which were either shipped to Mexico or intercepted en route - shows the Bushmaster .223 AR-15 ranks second among firearms apparently used in drug warfare.”
“Mexican drug traffickers followed a time-honored maxim of product salesmanship: Bigger is definitely better.”
Which is it Dan Freedman? Biger bullets incriminating foreign made AK’s or Bushmaster’s .223?
“Shipped or intercepted”?
This BATFEXYZ123 propaganda ‘Operation Gun Runner’ sh*t needs more daylight.
Enforce the law.
He fails to mention that the BATF ordered gun dealers to sell hundreds of guns to straw buyers who they knew were taking them to Mexico.
Are they going to tell us that the cartels get their hand grenades, RPGs, mortars with mortar shells and IEDs from American gun shops too?
AR-15s are SEMI-auto, that’s NOT a weapon of choice for a Narco-terrorist, it’s a LEGAL home owner’s weapon of choice.
The government could not find the guns they claimed were being shipped to Mexico so they shipped some on their own in order to restrict our second amendment rights even more.
No, we've seen the statistic that 17% of crime guns submitted to the U.S. for tracing came from the U.S..
Why would “drug cartel” members pay inflated prices for semi automatic AK 47’s from the U.S., and semi automatic Bushmaster rifles which are selling for twice as much as fully automatic M-16’s true unit price to the military?
Fully automatic weapons are available all over the turd world at rock bottom prices. Every Palestinian has two or three even though they can't afford shoes or a dentist.
Could it be that other countries have the audacity to actually enforce their borders?
More Marxist propaganda from Hearst. I wonder where Patti got her AK47 from?
I have NO DOUBT WHATSOEVER that the intention for "Operation Fast and Furious" was to generate "evidence" to allow articles like this one to be published, to gin up new calls for gun control.
Mark
That's true.
Why would “drug cartel” members pay inflated prices for semi automatic AK 47’s from the U.S., and semi automatic Bushmaster rifles which are selling for twice as much as fully automatic M-16’s true unit price to the military? Fully automatic weapons are available all over the turd world at rock bottom prices.
I have made the same point myself.
I sent Mr. Freedman an email:
[quote]Dan,
Don’t you think it takes a willful suspension of disbelief to think that drug trafficking organizations who successfully smuggle billions of dollars in drugs using methods as sophisticated as submarines built in jungles, have to purchase semi-automatic rifles in the US when there are tons of full auto rifles available from the Central American civil wars of the 80s & 90s?
In fact, thatis exactly where they’re coming from. The LA Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal have already extensively reported on this subject and have rejected the ViolencePolicy Center’s flawed narrative.
I’m happy to provide you with links if you’d like
Best regards
jdberger[/quote]
He responded:
[quote]Did a separate Calif-specific version for SF Chronicle. Main version of the story can be found in Houston Chronicle, www.chron.com.
Thanks for your critique of my story.
We may disagree but I think it’s valuable to hear what you have to say, so thanks for taking the time to read and respond to the story.
A few points I’d make:
Fast and Furious. Yes, I was well aware of the allegations from whistleblowers about ATF permitting straw-purchased weapons to filter into Mexico in order to pinpoint key players in the cartels. With very severe space restrictions, I elected not to mention it because I wanted to tell a ``new’’ story rather than rehash something that’s been adequately reported elsewhere. (So what was ``new’’ in my story, you may be asking? It focused on 1,600 guns that U.S. court documents verified as purchased in U.S. gun stores, breaking them down by manufacturer and/or importer. Few, if any, other stories have focused on this angle.) The main point here is that even if all the allegations of ATF negligence are true, they don’t undercut the basis of my story _ 1,600 guns purchased in the United States that ``were either shipped to Mexico or intercepted en route.’’ The whistleblower allegation is that ATF was monitoring weapons purchases by known straw purchasers and did nothing to prevent the guns from getting to Mexico. These guns clearly were purchased by the traffickers’ designated hitters with the intent of shipping them to the cartels. The possibility that ATF could have prevented the actual deliveries does not change that. The investigative techniques surrounding these deliveries are under investigation and we’ll see where it goes. I’ll certainly pay attention to this in terms of future reporting.
Central America and ``90 percent.’’ My story focused on 1,600 verifiable guns coming from U.S. sources, not the totality of weapons seized in Mexico. For context, I mentioned the many statements given by ATF officials before Congress, presumably under oath, that 90 percent of guns submitted by Mexican authorities for tracing via the ATF-operated tracing center were from the U.S. I also said: ``Gun rights advocates doubt the accuracy of that claim.’’ Everyone knows that lawlessness in Mexico is a long-standing problem, dating back to Pancho Villa and before. Obviously there are thousands, if not millions, of weapons and munitions of every description floating around in Mexico. What is new is the influx of military-style weaponry, which changes the equation in Mexico and puts the cartels on equal (if not superior) footing with law enforcement. Whether Mexico has the technical capacity to sort out the variety and sources of all guns, to say nothing of interest, is open to speculation. Even if they did, it might not be possible, given the vagaries of scratched-off serial numbers and the incompleteness (or
non-existence) of records in the U.S. and elsewhere. It was not possible for me to take on the broad spectrum of weaponry in Mexico in this story. And the fact is, nobody (not you, not me, and probably not the
Mexicans) really knows the full breakdown of where these weapons come from.
Hope this gives you at least a few insights into this story.
Dan Freedman [/quote]
Still a bunch of hooey - but at least he was nice enough to respond (though upon reflection - I think that it was a mass email).
Not really nitpicking here but if them druggies wanted the best, the COLT LE Carbine is far better. Problem is them druggies musta been on a budget. Any afficionado would take the LE of the Bush.....
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