Mexico: descent into chaosEffort to stem flow of firearms to Mexico backfires
There are no limits in the United States to the number of long guns (as opposed to pistols or revolvers) a person is allowed to buy; the Mexican drug cartels exploited this buy sending thousands of straw buyers to gun shows an gun shops to buy hundreds of thousands of fire arms, then smuggle them to Mexico; to stem the flow of guns, the ATF launched Project Gunrunner: rather than just take down low-level straw buyers here and there, the agency hoped that by “letting the guns walk,” the sales would lead investigators to cartel members higher up in the organization; insiders say it never did; ATF could have told gun owners not to sell, or later seize the guns in an arrest; instead, gun store owners were allowed to sell even though agents often knew the buyer was a straw for the Mexican cartels; those guns can be traced to hundreds of robberies, rapes, and murders; experts said the numbers are much higher
AK-47s, the cartels' weapon of choice // Source: beforeitsnews.info
The flow of U.S. fire-arms into Mexico is turning Mexico into an ungovernable, failed state on the U.S. door step. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Department of Justice have tried different approaches to deal with this growing problem, and one of the programs – Project Gunrunner – has come under fire.
Tough questions are being raised about this signature U.S. effort to track and stop the flow of illicit weapons to Mexico. Critics charge that the project, inadvertently, is responsible for an untold number of dead.
Project Gunrunner was a joint task force headed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Department of Justice. The project took place in 2010.
Fox News reports that it was conceived after the bureau was criticized for not conducting more complex investigations on straw buyers — people who were allowed to purchase guns legally in the United States — who illegally transport guns into Mexico and sell them to cartels.
Rather than just take down low-level straw buyers here and there, the agency hoped by “letting the guns walk,” the sales would lead investigators to cartel members higher up in the organization.
Whistle-blowers say that never happened.
Fox News reports that the weapons used to kill Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry were being tracked by Gunrunner, but new documents reveal a much bigger problem.
“I’m still asking questions and we’re getting the runaround from the Justice Department,” Sen. Charles Grassley told Fox News. “They’re stonewalling. And the longer the wait, the more they fight, the more egg that they’re going to have on their face.”
Grassley and others say Gunrunner was a dismal and deadly failure, with ATF intentionally allowing thousands of weapons to be illegally trafficked to Mexico.
Sources told Fox News how it worked: Arizona gun stores sold weapons to suspected straw buyers — in some cases 10, 20, 30 AK-47s to the same person over just a few months.
ATF could have said no, or later seized the guns in an arrest. Instead, owners were urged to sell, even though agents often knew the buyer was a straw for the Mexican cartels.
Records show Gunrunner was aware of more than 1,000 weapons sold from ten Arizona gun stores to roughly fifty straw buyers. More than two-thirds of those guns have already been recovered at crime scenes in the U.S. and Mexico.
“What people don’t understand is how long we will be dealing with this,”
