TW: We tend to get pretty uptight when a story about say an insurgent in Iraq is found with Iranian sourced weaponry. Unfortunately we are developing a quite effective export trade of our own- arming drug cartels in Mexico. Due to the proliferation of all sorts of guns and the relative ease by which they can be purchased we have developed a thriving trade with the cartels south of the border. We use their drugs and arm them to fight with each other over the spoils, makes one proud to be an American.
From Int'l Herald Tribune:
"...Drug gangs seek out guns in the United States because the gun-control laws are far tougher in Mexico. Mexican civilians must get approval from the military to buy guns and they cannot own large-caliber rifles or high-powered pistols, which are considered military weapons.
...The gun laws in the United States allow the sale of multiple military-style rifles to American citizens without reporting the sales to the government, and the Mexicans search relatively few cars and trucks coming into the country.
What is more, the sheer volume of licensed dealers - more than 6,600 along the border alone, many of them operating out of their homes - makes policing them a tall order. The ATF now has about 200 agents assigned to the task.
Smugglers routinely enlist Americans with clean criminal records to buy two or three rifles at a time, often from different shops, then transport them across the border in cars and trucks, hiding them in door panels or under the hood, law enforcement officials here said. Some of the smuggled weapons are also bought from private individuals at gun shows, and the law requires no notification of the authorities in those cases.
...ATF officials estimate that 90 percent of the weapons recovered in Mexico came from dealers north of the border"
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/26/america/border.php
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