PHOENIX - Weapons that trace back to dealers and sellers in Arizona are being found at various Mexican crime scenes, according to William Newell, Special Agent in Charge of ATF’s Phoenix Division.
“Mexico is in a tough, tough situation right now, they are at war against a very, very violent, vicious group of thugs,” said Newell.
He explained how as the Mexican government puts pressure on cartels, the demand for high-powered weapons like a 50-caliber rifle goes up.
“Individuals we've arrested in the United States trafficking 50-caliber firearms, defendants who have cooperated and given us statements, as well as our own information from Mexico that the cartels are interesting in 50-caliber firearms because a lot of their targets, be it rival drug cartel leadership as well as government officials they are going after, are riding around in armored vehicles and a 50-caliber bullet would easily penetrate that.”
At various Mexican crime scenes, Newell said they are finding weapons that trace back to dealers and sellers in Arizona.
“We have agents throughout Mexico, I go to Mexico all the time, I see US-sourced firearms there all the time," he said. "A large percentage of those firearms that they illegally acquire and illegally traffic to Mexico are from the U.S. and a large percentage are from Arizona.”
Customs and Border Protection said the number of weapon seizures along the border doubled from 19 last fiscal year to about 40 this fiscal year.
Newell said when criminals can’t buy guns legally, they hire straw buyers to do it for them.
ATF has been tracking an uptick in the number of female straw buyers and believe the economy might be playing a role.
“Females specifically because they get paid two, three hundred dollars, it's quick money,” He said.
But lying on a federal form, and to the dealer, to buy a gun for someone else is a felony.
“[You are] committing a serious federal felony,” Newell explained. “And you are also putting guns in the hands of potentially some very violent criminals because those guns are more than likely going to violent criminals in the U.S. as well as in Mexico.”
Then there are also private sellers.
These are people who are selling their private collections and therefore do not have to be licensed.
You’ll find private sellers at gun shows.
Newell said when a private seller sells a gun no form is required; the seller doesn’t even need to jot down the name of the buyer.
They just need to reasonably guess that the person wishing to buy a gun isn’t a prohibited buyer .
That means they were not convicted of a felony, dishonorably discharged from the military, the subject of a court order involving domestic violence or in the country illegally among some other factors.
“Unfortunately there are criminals who take advantage of that fact and will actually seek out private sellers to buy guns because they know they don't have to fill out paperwork,” Newell said.
That is why ATF is trying to get the word outt, first to potential straw purchasers: lie to buy a gun for someone else and you are looking at up to 10 years in prison.
As for private sellers, “Take as much information from that person as possible even though you are not a licensed dealer so that in case that gun is in fact used in a crime you can say 'yes I sold it to this person on this date.'”
Newell believes working to help keep guns out of the hands of Mexico’s cartels, “will support our efforts to keep that violence from coming across the border.”
John Velleco, Director of Federal Affairs for Gun Owners of America , a non-profit group that advocates for the Second Amendment, shares these points:
Drug Cartels, Weapons, and American Gun Laws
1. The types of weapons frequently used by cartels are often full autos, grenades and other explosives that are either completely illegal for civilians to own in the U.S., or very difficult and expensive to purchase. Many of the weapons we see dramatized in the news are simply not available to purchase at U.S. gun shows or gun stores.
2. Mexican drug cartels have billions of dollars at their disposal. They can buy their weapons from rogue nations and other bad actors and have them imported by land or sea with their own planes and vessels. As just one small example as to how much money moves through their hands, consider the alleged half million dollar bribe to the former Mexico drug czar Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos. $500,000 dollars in bribes to ONE person, just to grease the skids to practice their illicit trade, is a good indication that most of their weapons are not coming into their country one gun at a time from U.S. gun shows.
3. Federally licensed gun dealers (FFLs) must always submit purchasers to a criminal background check run by the FBI, whether the sale is made at a gun store or gun show. If the check comes up clean, the purchase could go through. If a dealer has a “bad feeling” about a purchaser, he or she can let the authorities know, but dealers would open themselves up to lawsuits
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