AP, March 10, 2009
The top Republican on the House appropriations committee criticized the Defense Department on Tuesday for not making the situation in Mexico as big a priority as Afghanistan.
Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., said the situation in Mexico is far more important than Afghanistan at this point. “We need to raise this to a higher level,” Lewis told The Associated Press.
Speaking at a homeland security subcommittee hearing, Lewis praised the Homeland Security Department for using unmanned aerial vehicles along the border, but he slammed DoD for not providing helicopters to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border.
{snip}
Since 2008, about 7,000 people have been killed in the drug wars, and violence is spilling into U.S. cities in some parts of the country.
Lewis said every major city in the U.S. is affected by the drug wars. There have been reports of drug cartel members settling scores with adversaries in such places as Atlanta, Phoenix and Birmingham, Ala.
The U.S. has given Mexico money and support as part of the Merida Initiative to combat drug trafficking.
{snip}
Last week, America’s top military officer, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, traveled to Mexico to confer with Mexican leaders about the Merida Initiative—a plan to flood the U.S.-Mexican border region with $1.4 billion in U.S. assistance for law-enforcement training and equipment, as well as technical advice and training.
{snip}
Most weapons the cartels are using come from the United States, said Mark Koumans, deputy assistant secretary for the department’s office of international affairs.
Earlier, Rep. David Price, D-N.C., questioned whether taxpayers are getting their money’s worth in border protection as people continue breaking through barriers to enter the United States illegally.
At a hearing on funding for border security, Price challenged the Homeland Security Department to explain why it has effective control of only 1 percent of the country’s 4,000-mile border with Canada.
Of the $3.6 billion Congress has allocated for border security, $2 billion has been spent building 610 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.
{snip}
Officials said the escalating violence among Mexican drug cartels is evidence that the U.S. border security plan is working. “They are fighting for territory,” Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar said of the drug cartels.
Original article
(Posted on March 11, 2009)
Comments
We have tens of thousands of military personnel in Afghanistan (BTW, trying to occupy a country that has never been successfully occupied), yet they say the problem is worse with Mexico. That said, where’s the 101st Airborne on the border?
I live in California. Let me explain congressman Jerry Lewis to people who do not live in California or have never heard of him. First of all, this isn’t the beloved comedian Jerry Lewis. There is nothing at all funny about what Congressman Jerry Lewis has done in California for years. Now when Jerry Lewis complains about border security, a thing he has never done since being in office, we need to ask why. Here is the answer in my opinion. Massive Mexican illegal immigration into California and a 1986 amnesty with a more massive one in the works, has Congressman Jerry Lewis suddenly getting religious on the evils of illegal immigration. He knows that Mexicans basically vote racially, and if millions more are given amnesty, well, that is curtains for Mr. Lewis’s career. Yep, if not caring for the voters changes these crooks, then their own self interest does it everytime.
“Most weapons the cartels are using come from the United States, said Mark Koumans, deputy assistant secretary for the department’s office of international affairs.”
Mark Koumans has his head where the sun doesn’t shine, if he thinks the drug cartels are getting arms from the US. The US doesn’t even make automatic weapons and every drug killing and violent incident has involved mostly AK 47’s which are fully automatic rifles. Others have involved Uzi machine guns and others involve Mac 10 fully automatic pistols, which are outlawed in the US. How about the grenades they use? And the RPG’s? Do they get them here, Mr. Left Wing radical? Of course they don’t.
Obviously US politicians wanting to invoke more stringent controls on private citizens’ access to arms want to create the impression the US is supplying the drug gangs. Nonsense.
Any kind of high-powered automatic rifles and machine guns can be purchased anywhere in the world, and the drug cartels have all the money they need for weapons.
If the US confiscated every single gun in the country the drug gangs would still be heavily armed, and would continue buying from their suppliers.
What we need are politicians who are not liars or naive fools who have the intelligence to analyze the situation and reccommend the proper action to try to difuse the situation.
However, unfortunately, it’s too late for that. The cartels are already heavily armed, and we’ve been informed they have 100,000 soldiers.
The only action that can be taken that will be somewhat effective is to put about 200,000 troops on the border, but we can all rest assured that will never happen.
These crooked politicians had better be worrying about their bullying US citizens and over taxing them before they give priority to propaganda they feel is necessary as a prelude to restricting the right to keep and bear arms, because before they can run their mouths enough to lay the framework for gun restriction they’re just apt to be knee deep in hostilities themselves from the very people they’re unscrupulously working to disarm.
Obviously US politicians wanting to invoke more stringent controls on private citizens’ access to arms want to create the impression the US is supplying the drug gangs. Nonsense.
This is exactly their intent. Janet Napolitano’s major response to gang killings in Arizona was to prosecute American gun dealers and to advocate for “tougher” gun laws. Who cares about drugs, murders or protecting the lives and safety of US citizens when you can use the presence of Mexican gangs as an excuse for disarming Americans?
Make all drugs legal. That will drain the resources from the narco army. End all immigration. End affirmative action, and institute heavy penalties for companies that hire hispanics. If they can’t get jobs, they’ll leave. Finally, bring all the troops home from around the world and have them clean up the remaining mestizos, and protect our border. It can be done, if we have the will to do it.
Obama is quoted in today’s Dallas Morning News that he “isn’t ready to militarize the border.” Well, Mr. President, how many drugs, illegal aliens, murders, kidnappings, beheadings, and all-purpose crimes must take place before you ARE ready? We here in Texas have been ready for about 20 years!
US becomes more Mexican
Somehow, the “Liberal” elites, many educated in the Ivy League schools, cannot comprehend how it could happen that millions of Mexican migrants are reconstructing their failed society right here on American soil.
Who can explain that to them? Aren’t all people equal? Don’t they become valuable americans, as committed to American values as anyone else in this country, as soon as they hop the border?
It’ amazing how these “elites” can hold on to political power despite all the self-inflicted stupidoty that they, and their “political correctness, have brought upon themselves. It must be that their constituencies are even more stupid then they are.
The cartels are already heavily armed, and we’ve been informed they have 100,000 soldiers.
One quarter of this number would be more than enough IF we don’t put hispanic soldiers on the border and then take the gloves off of the special ops troops.
Mark Koumans has his head where the sun doesn’t shine, if he thinks the drug cartels are getting arms from the US. The US doesn’t even make automatic weapons and every drug killing and violent incident has involved mostly AK 47’s which are fully automatic rifles. Others have involved Uzi machine guns and others involve Mac 10 fully automatic pistols, which are outlawed in the US. How about the grenades they use? And the RPG’s? Do they get them here, Mr. Left Wing radical? Of course they don’t.
Posted by ranger at 8:47 PM on March 11
While I agree with the general intent of this statement, one item is necessary to point out; it is easy to change semi-autos like AK47s to auto and they are designed to be auto. It is also true that many suspected gang types have been buying arms at American gun shows for a long time. As for RPGs, you have me there - but I am not suggesting that ALL weapons are coming from the US.
What is needed is better checking at gun shows. In California, you can’t walk out of a gun show with anything, you have to pick it up later at at dealer shop after your registration papers have been filed. Non-brick and mortar dealers work with shops to comply. I don’t see why this system could not be converted into a way to arrest gang members who purchase at gun shows.
Throughout our history there have always been unscrupulous gun runners who sold to the “Indians” who then went and killed settlers, Whites, soldiers, etc. What we have today is an analogous situation, but on a much larger scale. If anyone really wanted to do something about this it could be done without taking the Constitutional guarantees away from law abiding citizens.
FIrst of all: There is no “gun show loophole”, all sales are subject to the same searches, so please fix that line of thinking. Second: It is not “easy” to change an AK47 to full auto. They are two different designs and the internal parts are completely different and will not work in one another, therefore you cannot “change them”. Same goes with the AR line of firearms, the bolt carriers and trigger asemblies are completely different and will not work in one another and are not interchangeable. Third: Automatic weapons ARE NOT illegal in the US but are heavily regulated and taxed. Those of you who are trying to sound like you know what you are talking about concerning firearms are just making yourselves look and sound ignorant and misinformed. So please stop.
“While I agree with the general intent of this statement, one item is necessary to point out; it is easy to change semi-autos like AK47s to auto and they are designed to be auto. It is also true that many suspected gang types have been buying arms at American gun shows for a long time. As for RPGs, you have me there - but I am not suggesting that ALL weapons are coming from the US.”
Yes, well, by the same token, I’m not suggesting that none of the guns the gangs have weren’t bought in this country.
The crux of my argument is this: For Eric Holder to contend that making “assault weapons” illegal again is going to cause a paucity of rifles and other equiment for the Mexican drug gangs is pure malarky. They’ll continue buying from their existing suppliers, and I’m of the opinion that many gang members here in the US who have weapons that will fire both semi-automatic and fully automatic are brought here from out of the country.
Columbia would be another source of weapons. How much weaponry is available throughout Central America? How did Commandante Marcos arm each of his rebel group with AK-47’s and other military equipment? He didn’t buy them here. And how about FARC, now actively pursuing their “freedom” agenda? And there are still cartels in Columbia that are armed to the teeth. Much of the arms and ammo that inundated Central America in the last several years of civil wars have found their way into the hands of the underground arms dealers.
Regarding conversion kits, just let me say that the number of semi-automatic AK-47’s and AR 15’s (Or M-15’s, the civilian version of the M-16.) are not manufactured in large numbers in the United States. And even fewer are available at gun shows.
“What is needed is better checking at gun shows. In California, you can’t walk out of a gun show with anything, you have to pick it up later at at dealer shop after your registration papers have been filed. Non-brick and mortar dealers work with shops to comply. I don’t see why this system could not be converted into a way to arrest gang members who purchase at gun shows.”
A gang member DOES NOT have to buy any kind of weapon at a gun show, and if he wants to buy one that has a selector switch that will enable the weapon to fire fully automatic he can’t get it. But he can order one today through criminal contacts, and it will be here in a couple of days.
If guns were made illegal in the US and the second amendment was trashed thirty years ago, the gang thugs would be as fully armed as they are right now.
The only thing that would be accomplished in such an insane maneuver would be to render law abiding people defenseless.
Eric Holder and the Obamanation and his crew of miscreants want to impose some kind of socialistic pro-black regime on us, and the only thing that’s keeping them from doing it is an armed citizenry.
That’s why they want to outlaw certain weapons now and more later. It’s much easier to herd cattle if they don’t have their horns.
The entire situation is as simple as that. The more gullible and naive the sheeple are, the easier it is to fool them in an oblique way.
“What is needed is better checking at gun shows. In California, you can’t walk out of a gun show with anything, you have to pick it up later at at dealer shop after your registration papers have been filed. Non-brick and mortar dealers work with shops to comply. I don’t see why this system could not be converted into a way to arrest gang members who purchase at gun shows.”
Where are these gun shows, Whiteplight, where a person can buy a gun and walk out with it without showing some kind of I.D.?
And why would a “gangbanger” have to buy from a gunshow? If he has no felony record, he can buy a weapon anywhere, and if he does have a criminal record, how many girlfriends do you think are registered weapons owners? Also, he can buy directly from an individual without any I.D. at all. Wonder how they’re going to stop that without causing a riot?
Don’t advocate anything that is going to inconvenience us any more than the corrupt politicians have done so far. Isn’t it just a bit gullible to expect that gangbangers won’t be able to get guns if gun shows don’t sell to them?
Go figure this one. The state authorities REQUIRE people to provide birth certificates and social security cards upon RENEWAL of their existing drivers licenses, even if they’ve been licensed for 40 years or more. Like gun laws and restrictions, this isn’t going to stop terrorists and criminals from printing up fake-proof identities or have an expert do it for them. This so-called Real I.D. act is another inconvenience to honest citizens concocted by the same lame-brains who decided that having grandma and grandpa take off their shoes at airorts was going to prevent sky-jackings or terrorist acts.
We have a dysfunctional government that is out of control, filled with the dimmest bulbs in the country.
Please don’t advocate restricting us any further on ANYTHING.
[“FIrst of all: There is no “gun show loophole”, all sales are subject to the same searches, so please fix that line of thinking.”]
The same “searches?” Do you mean background checks? It sounds like you need to get better acquainted with the subject before trying to correct anybody else, because that’s just plain wrong. There’s not one broad federal statute YET regarding gun purchases at gun shows. In case you haven’t noticed that’s what those of you on the left are trying to do now. And what do you mean by “fix” that line of thinking? Do you mean that somebody needs to alter his base of knowledge? Sounds like it is you who needs to make a few adjustments of your own.
[“Second: It is not “easy” to change an AK47 to full auto. They are two different designs and the internal parts are completely different and will not work in one another, therefore you cannot “change them”.”]
Conversion kit instructions are known to every military man and are available even on the internet regarding the semi-automatic AK-47, as well as the SKS and M-15. But the process can’t be performed BECAUSE IT IS ILLEGAL. Anyone can Google, “Converting semi-automatic AK-47 to fully automatic,” and easily see for himself. There’s a warning on the numerous sites that the procedure is ILLEGAL also.
I don’t agree with the above poster’s assertion that conversion is “easy,” but it is possible, so you’re both wrong, so, please get your facts straight before offering such undiplomatic negativism. In fact, why don’t you write the BATF and tell them you’re going to convert your American made AK-47 to fully automatic and see if it brings you any unwanted visitors. If it isn’t possible to do as you say, then you have nothing to worry about, right?
You haven’t really offered anything of value regarding the subject matter, and I really wish you wouldn’t confuse the issue, because drug gang armaments and second amendment rights are too critical an issue to play games with.
[“Same goes with the AR line of firearms, the bolt carriers and trigger asemblies are completely different and will not work in one another and are not interchangeable.”]
Wrong on that score too. Google as I instructed above.
[“Third: Automatic weapons ARE NOT illegal in the US but are heavily regulated and taxed.”]
They’re available to SOME people IF they can get a permit, but under those conditions they’re considered collector’s items, so what does that have to do with mass selling these weapons to drug gangs, which is what my post is about? It’s absolute nonsense to even bring the matter up unless the intent is to want to sound like an expert yourself.
[“Those of you who are trying to sound like you know what you are talking about concerning firearms are just making yourselves look and sound ignorant and misinformed. So please stop.”]
My, my, my. It sounds like it bothers you greatly. You offer a bit of info that’s ignorant and misinformed and you want others to stop? Amazing. If you want to contribute to the debate, answer my above post at Anonymous 10:34 p.m. (I forgot to leave my “ranger”) It’s on topic concerning the danger of gangs at the border and federal attempts to restrict the second amendment.
Such misguided negativism is what needs to be stopped. If you have nothing useful to offer to the discussion besides incorrect information why on earth would you want to jump into the debate with such nonsense?
But please don’t take my word for anything, because, as you say, I’m ignorant and misinformed. Besides the wealth of Google booklets and information on the topic, there’s an article regarding what I have asserted above, and I would be happy to scan it and send it to you. It has photos and describes the equipment the drug gangs have at their disposal right now.
The same background check that is performed at a gun store is performed at a gun show if the weapon is bought through a licensed dealer. There is no such thing as a “conversion kit” for an AK. It is either a full auto reciever or it is not. It is that simple. The internals ARE different, different sear, different trigger assembly, etc. They cannot be interchanged. You can convert an American made AK to full auto but the paperwork and time and money involved in doing it legally are, in my opinion, not worth the end result. Besides, why would you want to? Permits are NOT required for the purchase of fully automatic weapons in the US. Select fire weapons, SBR, SBS and suppressors and others that fall under the NFA are required to have a tax stamp paid directly to the ATF at the time of purchase. The background checks for a regular shotgun are the same for a machine gun. No more, no less. The kicker is that purchasing a select fire weapon is likely cost prohibitive for most people and therefore not in the realm of everday thinking. It does bother me when people refer to firearms as “assault weapons” and when they report someone was arrested with an “arsenal” when in fact it was a Ruger 10/22 and 3K rounds of ammunition. Would someone please let me know what this fabled “gunshow loophole” is?
[“The same background check that is performed at a gun store is performed at a gun show if the weapon is bought through a licensed dealer.”]
Can you give me a quote where I said anything different? I think you’re confusing the posters on here.
[“There is no such thing as a “conversion kit” for an AK. It is either a full auto reciever or it is not. It is that simple.”]
(snip)
“Now that it is no longer legal for unlicensed individuals to convert firearms to machineguns, the only thing that is available to people who are interested in how machineguns work are conversion manuals. There is no law against possessing a manual, I would freely encourage anyone to purchase one if they have any interest at all in how a machinegun works. Just keep in mind that no matter how tempting it may be, converting your semi-auto AK-47 to full-auto is a bad idea and should never be done.
“The “Select Fire AK-47 Conversion Manual” by Butokukai is an excellent manual that is simple and quite to-the-point. The author does not spend time going over the history of the weapon, he limits the “filler” information to just two or three pages. The rest of the manual is filled with easy to understand text, excellent photographs and good blueprints showing the differences between a semi-automatic AK47 and a full-automatic AK47.
“The manual contains two methods to convert a semi-automatic weapon, one being the “correct” military method. This method involves drilling a hole into your receiver to support the auto-sear pivot pin, and cutting a channel into the bolt guide rails to allow it to clear. This method will allow you to use unmodified military standard AK-47 parts to perform the conversion without modifing them in any way. This method should be studied if you own a legally registered fully automatic AK-47 and want to understand better how your firearm operates, or give you information on how to troubleshoot or repair a gun that is not functioning well in full-auto mode.
“The second method to convert an AK-47 to full auto is quite interesting. It involves enlarging the existing semi-auto pivot pin to accomodate a new modified sear. The modified sear consists of the existing semi-auto sear having a cut full-auto sear welded onto it in a manner such as that it will act as though its in its natural location. This conversion method should be studied by legally licensed and active Type 7 Class 2 FFL holders who are doing specialized work where it would be more desireable to register an AK-47 sear rather than an entire gun. While this couldn’t be described as a “drop in” conversion, like the AR-16 “drop in auto sear” (DIAS) it is very close in that externally the gun will not have any visibile indication as to whether or not it is a machinegun or a regular semi-auto assault rifle.”
(snip)
“In closing, I would recommend this conversion manual to anyone who is interested in the engineering behind fully-automatic firearms. I would however not recommend anyone purchase this book if they are not able to control themselves from breaking the law and creating an illegal machinegun.”
ranger: If this is stil incomprehensible to you, you’ll have to wrestle with the problem yourself.
But, let me ask you, is there anything at all you would like to rebut about my comments regarding drug cartels here and in Mexico? Or the danger presented to us concerning our right to defend ourselves. Or whether or not the the drug cartels in Mexico……and here….are buying automatic weapons here and transporting them to Mexico as the attorney general says in order to use the fallacy as an excuse to restrict our second ammendment rights?
My contention is that AK-47’s obtained by ALL the Mexican drug cartels, and the ones obtained by our home-grown gangs, are purchased from outside the country and shipped INTO this country or Mexico.
My original point was the conversion is NOT easy, in contrast to what another poster alleged, and is unnecessary where the gangs are concerned, because they buy factory made fully automatic weapons.
This is the crux of this thread and one which I addressed. Your conversion problem had nothing useful to contribute to the issues raised. Would you like to rebut any of my points? I welcome open discussion and differring points of view.
Bolstering the contention that the Mexican cartels aren’t getting some of their armaments from the U.S.:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-arms-race15-2009mar15,0,229992.story
“Bolstering the contention that the Mexican cartels aren’t getting some of their armaments from the U.S.:”
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-arms-race15-2009mar15,0,229992.story
Excellent link, QD.
This is the only article I’ve read…..and I’ve read a lot of them….which offers a more complete picture of the cartel situation.
The only thing I might question is the authors’ assertion that “tons” of weapons from the US are flowing south, because the BATF tracks these kinds of weapons from the maufacturer to the dealer, and they audit dealer logs. As I said, there’s no question that arms come from here, but I have to question that “tons” are getting by the BATF.
In one paragraph they mention a “well-documented flow” in referring to arms shipped south, but I’m wondering how they could “well document” a flow of guns going south, because they have no way to document contraband smuggled south, just as they can’t document drugs moving north.
Quite frankly, I’m very skeptical of a government that wants to take our guns away, making allegations that is likely used as a basis to support laws to restrict our right to own firearms. So if the “well-documented” claim originated from the government, it’s probably false.
Too, if they’re saying they need to restrict our gun use to stop the violence in Mexico it makes me wonder how they intend to stop the cartels from buying guns from arms dealers. Also, the cartels have a HUGE number of politicians, army brass and politicians in their pocket in Mexico, I imagine they could buy arms from army personnel in Mexico easier than they could buy them here and transport them south, risking confiscation.
Anyway, just a few extra thoughts.
Thanks for the link. It is a good one. I hope the same authors do follow ups.
