Don't you need a Class C license to buy "automatic weapons"? He implies that they are buying selective fire rifles legally in Texas and sending them south. I assume a retired Army General wouldn't misuse the term "assault rifles". Is he serious, mistaken, or pushing a gun control agenda?

Otherwise an interesting an sobering read.

The section on weapons coming from the US is an outright lie -- the paper mentions "automatic
weapons, RPGƒ??s, Anti-Tank 66 mm rockets, mines and booby traps, heavy machine guns, 50 cal
sniper rifles, massive use of military hand grenades, and the most modern models of 40mm
grenade machine guns." and then goes on to blame the US and licensed dealers as the source of the weapons -- SIMPLY IMPOSSIBLE. You just can't buy most of that in the US *period*, and that which you can (automatic weapons) is so tightly controlled (the purchase process takes months) and restricted that prices are massively inflated (starting at tens of thousands each).

Can anyone seriously believe that they're buying eg automatic AK's from a US dealers, waiting many months for such rare guns to come on the market, more months for transfer approval from ATF, leaving an enormous paperwork trail, and paying HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS *per* *case*? Why, when they could spend a couple thousand per case to get them from china, russia, middle east, etc. quickly and with no trail.

Now, you can buy semi-automatic AK *look-alikes* in the US from dealers, but that is a very different thing. They are not machine guns. They *look* like military rifles, but that's where the similarity ends. Functionally, they operate like many hunting rifles, except fire *less powerful* rounds. These are the so called "assault weapons", a made-up term to confuse ignorant voters. Again, these are not machine guns, not military rifles, and most definitely not the dangerous weapons the earlier paragraph assured us the cartels are armed with! I can't imagine why mexican cartels would be interested in them when US criminals clearly aren't (they're used in less than 1% of all gun-related crime in the US, according to the FBI)

There is no possible way McCaffrey can be ignorant of the difference. But, what's a lie to a man like that -- a war criminal who fired on retreating soldiers after a cease-fire (see New Yorker magazine and ABC news investigations) . Heck, he's also been a willing propagandist before (http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2000/01/13/drugs/index.html and http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/washington/30general.html?_r=1&em=&pagewanted=all)

What a disgrace to the uniform...

Well, it sounds to me that they are using the cover of "haven" cities to get around thorny investigations.

Basically, in most haven cities, if the police think you might be an illegal alien, they can't touch you for anything short of killing. Forging a class C license doesn't even come close.

It gets better. As long as the police can't challange the license, dealers can be legally obligated to sell to them, lest they face lawsuits for "discrimination".

This is how we end up with running gunfights down I-45, that the cops can't respond to because it's a human smuggling gang infighting. I'd have to check, but I do recall something about that one involving fully automatic weapons too. I gather people were a touch annoyed.

"Most illegal weapons in Mexico come from the United States, according to officials in both countries"

"Michael Sullivan, the acting director of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said last month that investigators have traced 90 to 95 percent of weapons seized in Mexico to the United States."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,427361,00.html

"What's alarming is that we haven't experienced any type of slowdown in firearms being trafficked to Mexico," Needles said.
He said a situation of guns going south and drugs coming north has become the norm.
http://www.kpho.com/news/18385686/detail.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1084085/Pictured-Massive-collection-weapons-seized-drug-cartel-Mexicos-largest-gun-haul.html

And yet so many gun owners applaud the former and can't get why they are getting hit with the latter. People that stupid don't deserve to own guns.

On another note: prohibition is financing our enemies from the streets of America, to the border with Mexico, to the opium war in Afghanistan. And yet the one strategy that would clear all this up is off the table: legalize you fools.

If Americans are so unready to see the obvious they deserve what they are about to get - good and hard.

===

And Michael: thanks for the pdf. If I do a post on it you get a link.

The harder he fights the war the more the drugs are worth. Why would we want to enter a fight where every move we make enhances our enemy's power?

Oh yeah. I forgot. Drugs make Americans stupid.

There is one consolation - alcohol used to make us stupid too.

Barry McCaffrey is no fool. He has to know that drug prohibition is supporting these gangs and yet his prescription is to fight the drug war harder. Do you suppose he is on the take?

BTW your link is here at the top. Thanks for bringing up this issue:

http://www.classicalvalues.com/archives/2009/01/colonels_look_a.html

Let's see, if I want to buy a real AK or M16 I have to
Find a dealer who has one
Fill out about eight pages of federal form
Submit it with fingerprints, picture and a fee
And if I pass the background investigation I am allowed a permit to buy and own that firearm.

And yet we're supposed to believe people just walk into a gun shop and buy up to a hundred real Aks or M16s. In California, yet. Let alone the grenades and RPGs. And let's not forget the fact that these things are EXPENSIVE, to buy a hundred- assuming you could- you'd be paying probably around $300,000. AND somehow ATF and FBI are not hearing about these stores selling the things and the people buying them. Yeah, right.

The question that comes to mind is McCaffrey simply parroting what the Mexican government says, with no fact-checking, or is he knowingly lying about this?

Computer trouble

Found another article:

"By pleading guilty, the defendants admitted they participated in a straw-purchasing scheme between May 2007 and March 2008. They bought more than 90 firearms from licensed dealers in El Paso and smuggled them into Mexico for buyers who could not legally purchase firearms in the United States. The straw-purchased and smuggled firearms included an assortment of pistols and rifles, including a .50-caliber rifle."

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0812/081204elpaso.htm

"Since 1996, the ATF has traced more than 62,000 firearms smuggled into Mexico from the United States." much more info at link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9rida_Initiative#Smuggling_of_firearms

"Armas Cruzadas"
http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/factsheets/armas_cruzadas.htm