Gun runningATF pushes for power to track bulk assault rifle sales
As more guns used in the bloody Mexican drug wars are traced back to the United States, efforts to crack down on illegal gun smuggling rings in border states have struggled to gain more traction; last month, the House denied the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) an emergency request to track bulk sales of semiautomatic guns in border states; a 2009 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that an estimated 85 percent of guns seized by Mexican authorities originated from the United States; a recent investigation found that traffickers were purchasing as many as forty AK-47 rifles at a time from gun shops in the Phoenix area
The AK-47 - favored weapon of Mexican drug cartels // Source: catherinemacivor.com
As more guns used in the bloody Mexican drug wars are traced back to the United States, efforts to crack down on illegal gun smuggling rings in border states have struggled to gain more traction.
Last month, the House denied the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) an emergency request to track bulk sales of semiautomatic guns in border states to help stop the flow of guns to Mexican drug cartels. A 2009 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that an estimated 85 percent of guns seized by Mexican authorities originated from the United States.
Most recently the fatal consequences of gun smuggling were brought to light when the gun used to kill Jaime Zapata, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, in an attack on a roadblock in Mexico was traced to a man in Dallas.
The attack occurred on 15 February and also injured ICE agent Victor Avila.
The ATF request would require gun shops in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas to report the sale of two or more rifles to the same person in a five day span. In particular ATF is interested in monitoring bulk sales of AK-47 and AR-15 assault rifles, the weapons favored by Mexican drug cartels.
ATF hopes that these reports will help agents identify gun-smuggling rings in the Southwest. A recent investigation found that traffickers were purchasing as many as forty AK-47 rifles at a time from gun shops in the Phoenix area.
Last month the House blocked the ATF’s request to track these weapons by passing an amendment that prohibited the use of federal funds for this project. The amendment to the Republican budget bill, supported by the National Rifle Association, passed 277 to 149.
Second amendment advocates object to the ATF request arguing that tracking bulk sales of assault rifles threatens gun rights and creates unnecessary paper work.
Since Mexican President Felipe Calderon launched his war against drug cartels in 2006, more than 30,000 people have been killed.
Representative Judy Chu (D – California) in a speech against the amendment blocking ATF’s request, said, “Last year, the U.S. military announced that if the drug war continues it will cause the Mexican government to collapse and the cartel war would spread over the border into the U.S.”
“This amendment makes the drug war worse,” she warned.
Chu is drafting a letter urging the White House to approve the ATF request.
So far the Obama administration has said little on its policy on gun control, even after the fatal shooting in Arizona that left a federal judge dead and Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D – Arizona) in critical condition.
