From the Reuters story:
“We strongly believe we took down the entire organization from top to bottom that operated out of the Phoenix area,” said William Newell, special agent in charge of the ATF’s Phoenix field division. “The investigation is further proof of the relentless efforts by Mexican drug cartels, especially the Sinaloa cartel, to illegally acquire large quantities of firearms in Arizona and elsewhere for use in the ongoing Mexican drug war,” he added.
Well, if that's true then ATF was just removing the gunrunning competition with this bust so they could have the field all to themselves.
15 comments:
CBS says they read ALL comments submitted here. You can choose the show. I chose the CBS Evening News.
http://www.cbs.com/info/user_services/fb_global_form.php
Nothing to see here, go to your homes.
Did they really hold a press conference with a bunch of rifles, some with mags inserted, pointed at themselves? Sheesh!
I hope it's not the last time they see this particular view. The next time they see a dozen or more rifles pointed at them I hope the LEO's holding them will be making arrests.
This proves a very sad thought.
With the knowledge that the Mexican Cartels have untold billions of dollars, and the ability to buy literal ship-loads of any type weapons they want from Central and south America, or China, at least half of the American public believes that the biggest threat we face is a few boneheads straw-buying them from mom and pop guns stores in Tucson.
Sad.
Richard
III
Dumb, de dumb,dumb
If they actually solved the problem, they would be out of a job...
Spud
Interesting that Project Gunwalker was just beginning to be picked up by the media. I don't suppose that this bust is meant to deflect attention from that?
This is only very tangentially related, but interesting: funding cuts for the BATFE?
At the department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, OMB had proposed, in a document drafted just before Christmas, a cut of 3.5% from what the agency is likely to spend this year, and a 12.7% cut from what the agency had said it needed. ATF officials therefore spent weeks deliberating whether to scale back Operation Gunrunner, part of the Obama administration's effort to attack Mexican drug cartels by cracking down on gunrunning along the southwest border.
Not nearly enough, of course, but it would be a step in the right direction.
Okay. So who among us is surprised that the big dogs in ATF would decide to make a headline grabbing bust at this point in time? Hell, Bill Clinton declared a war in Europe to shift attention away from his domestic peccadilloes. And while, “Gun Walking”, encouraging and abetting straw purchases, and possibly condoning the transfer of a firearm used in the commission of a homicide, are somewhat more serious than infidelity. The use of self aggrandizing, positive news paper reports do have a way of diverting attention.
[W3]
Your mission, if you choose to accept, is to walk in to your friendly local gun shop, and with a straight face, tell the dealer you want 1 dozen fully automatic rifles, one dozen RPG's, and one dozen hand grenades. Please, no giggling while doing so.
Damn! At first glance, I thought those were a bunch of microphones.
B Woodman
III-per
"buy literal ship-loads of any type weapons they want from Central and south America, or China"
It strikes me as odd that with as much money as they have, they'd BUY guns at all. Aren't there underused manufacturing plants in Mexico, or is that strictly a U.S. phenomenon?
Why not buy the machines to build them and then make as many as they want? Makes sense to me to make your own if you can.
We in the U.S. should grow our own dope and put the cartels out of business, or better yet, LEGALIZE the shit and take the money out of their pockets.
The govt. could tax it, but what would they do with all the cops and correctional officers who'd be out of work? Oh, yeah, they could stimulate Nancy Pelosi with their unemployment checks.
BTW - the link to the build your own Sten is to a paysite, Scribd. It's not a lot of money, but it's money I don't have at the moment.
Anon said "I hope its not the last time they see this particular view. The next time they see a dozen or more rifels pointed at them I hope the LEO's holding them will be making arrests"
Sir I respectfully disagree. The next time they see this many rifles pointed at them I hope the Patriot firing squad holding them can all contain themselves long enough to fire the volley in unison.
Grenadier1
...is that a .30 cal machine gun on top? Where is the hell did they buy that over the counter?
The 5.7x28 round can not penetrate any modern soft vest. They can penetrate World War II era flak vests. Where in the world are those even in use?
High powered Kalashnikovs? As opposed to standard powered ones? Are high powered ones powered by tiny race car engines inside of them? Ol' Mikhail is still alive, maybe that can call him and ask.
The idea that they can even think about successfully selling the idea that the multi-billion dollar drug cartels are getting semi-auto only, poorly reassembled (to be 922 compliant), overpriced Kalashnikovs a few dozen at a time over the US border tells you everything you need to know. They know there are enough blindingly and insanely ignorant Americans out there that will buy it. They interpolate us as all by the morons that outnumber us, what, 500,000 to one?
I am very suprised that a few of those weapons didn't just "go off" as they are wont to do, according to the 4th estate.
Post a Comment