Michael Yon

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.

Barry is just another apologist for the rich of Mexico. Once the money & power people get on board this could be solved overnight along with the illegal immigration. Don't hold your breath. The rich of Mexico are self serving and greedy and right now they are making money hand over fist.

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...

Wow I can buy cases of AK's in California and Automatics in Texas without the ATF giving me a prostate exam...... Why the hell did I ever leave Texas!!! Oh yea that's right because its all a bunch of bull pucky. This is just sad, if it were the citizens of these States legally buying these weapons then they would all be easily tracable or am I just taht naive.

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.

You can modify semi automatic rifles to be fully automatic. It's illegal to do it in the US but when you look at the lawlessness and people buying the weapons in mexico its not hard to see them taking semi auto rifles in the US and then illegally modifying them to be fully automatic. Plus you can do what is called private sales to.

"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

I just love these Union desk job generals and "teaching" at West Point too! Barry your "facts" on guns from the USA are either lies(which I suspect)or show the utter incompetence of the ATF to go after GUN RUNNERS rather than harass US gun shop owners.You didn't mention the ARREST and POLITICAL IMPRISONMENT of our 2 Border Guards for shooting a drug "importer" and how that leads to US law enforcement apathy.Your memo is so full of HOLES I really don't know how you graduated from high school, but you are an excellent BSer.Too bad you weren't the general in charge on that ridge the 3rd day at Gettysburg,we would have cleaned your clock.

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.

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.

1) Mexico is an oligarchy- the top 1% own about 60-80% of wealth. Of course Barry McCaffrey liked the "elite"- they're just like him. By the way, Mexican oligarch cynically fob off their poor on us as a pressure relief valve to ward off reforms at home- why else do they scream so loudly everytime we actually try to enforce our laws? 2) I agree, however, with McCaffrey that Mexican disroder will result in a flood of refugees across our border. In fact, it's already happening: see: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/world/americas/05mexico.html?hp re Mexican kidnapings and flight to US. Also see: in Arizona:http://kfyi.com/cc-common/mainheadlines3.html?feed=118695&article=3875223 It's only gonna get better... Inland Empire

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

This is not new news. This is old. This war has been going on for years. MS-13 has turned some of the barrios in US cities into NO-GO zones. I will not answer the door in my upscale NM neighborhood without a weapon because of home invasions from Mexican nationals. And the weapons coming from the US to Mexico? Just a bald faced lie of the gun grabbers. Pure BS. Anyone so ignorant as to buy the first sentence of that "document" deserves what they get. We need to: 1. Seal the border 2. Throw the illegals out 3. Develop a real guest worker program 4. Throw the bums out of DC - all of them - start over

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?

or he's knowingly lying. If I wanted to buy ONE AK47 or AK74 or M16, the actual select-fire military weapon, I have to Find a dealer who has one for sale. Fill out six or eight pages of federal form, including fingerprints and pictures, Go through the background investigation and be passed, And pay a transfer tax to be allowed a permit to own that firearm. Yet we're supposed to believe that someone walks into a store- in CALIFORNIA, yet- and just lays down cash and walks out with up to a hundred of them? Absolute bullcrap. Let alone the grenades and RPGs that are supposedly sold over the counter. I'd think McCaffrey would have the sense to check out such allegations before putting them in his report as fact.

Computer trouble

El Paso man, Mexican citizen face weapons-smuggling charges 11 AK-47 assault rifles among firearms, ammunition suspected to be smuggled into Mexico http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0901/090106elpaso.htm Good lookin out, General! Hopefully more to come...

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

Whether it is a false report or not, every citizen that is trained and ultimately certified to carry concealed in the USA, becomes a deterent against criminal activity, no matter from which direction it approaches. 'Gun Control Works'...'For Those in Control'. The element of a concealed surprise on the part of the targeted victim, is not what most attackers desire to run into. The long wait and fingerprinting deters the criminal element from legally carrying concealed. If the factions that desire full auto AK-47's want to pay an exhorbitant amount of money and risk being arrested by undercover ATF agents looking for some action, they can come to the USA. Otherwise as the thinking comments said, get them easier and much cheaper from abroad. Even Hugo Chavez would like to help destabilize any nation in his part of the hemisphere.. along with the USA of course. Seems like I recall Russia was intent on building Hugo an AK-47 factory to use in South American revolts last year? This report, as others have wisely suggested, sounds more like an agenda to push for more gun control in the USA. Don't buy into it, Join the millions of legal CCW US Citizens, get certified and licensed to CCW as soon as possible. Join the NRA to have your voice unified in watching for restrictive legislation from those intent on Oppresive Control of the Citizens of the Republic of the US of A. I wrote about my own personal experience on [URL removed by Webmaster] website.

"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