A Hello To Arms

“I’m still asking questions and we’re getting the runaround from the Justice Department.  They’re stonewalling.  And the longer the wait, the more they fight, the more egg that they’re going to have on their face.”

–Sen. Charles Grassley

Old Ernest Hemingway wrote A Farewell To Arms, but the narcotics gangs along our porous southern border would rather mimic the Beatles: You Say Goodbye, I’ll Say Hello.  Since a picture is worth  a thousand words, here are a recent few to ponder from our own Southwest (H/T to Tom & Jim for the E-mail):

This is but one seizure that has taken place along the border over the past year.

There have been many more like this (but you won’t hear about it on media news). Not a mention on ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, or CNN! These photos and reports come from a Spanish language news source.

Military caps and equipment were among the cache of weapons. All types of assault weapons were among the cache. Many were military grade weapons with plenty of ammo. There were enough guns to open a gun shop. It was a major asenal of weapons including grenade launchers. Not only weapons, but also vehicles believed to have been stolen were found at the site. One smuggler was killed during the operation when he fired on the border patrol agents. Numerous Police style bullet proof vests were found in one vehicle. More than 200 large weapons were confiscated along with about 30 smaller arms. It appears these guys intended to portray themselves as police officers or military men. Each and every vehicle checked had been reported stolen in the USA in the recent past! $380,000 worth of stolen vehicles were recovered. More than 60 grenades of varying size were found. Arabic writing was found on them. Numerous hand guns with loaded clips were also found in the cache. A single grenade could bring $5,000 on the streets of the USA. Each of the weapons could be sold for as much as $5,000 on the black market in the USA. More than 80 stolen cell phones were found. These could be used for detonating bombs remotely. Still more rifles were found stuffed in several SUV’s. Clips loaded with live bullets were just too numerous to count. All types of weapons, including Afghan – Russian – Chinese and many others. Why would anyone to object to protecting our borders after they have seen this? Our own Federal Government intends to sue Arizona over their law. But the Federal law reads almost word for word. Problem is, they refuse to enforce it. Sorta makes you wonder who our real enemies really are, doesn’t it?

Remember, as you peruse the links below, that in the United States, you cannot legally purchase machine guns, assault rifles, grenade launchers, hand grenades, or nuclear weapons from any licensed firearms dealer, in Arizona or elsewhere. Legitimate gun dealers are NOT the bad guys, despite what leftists, liberals, progressives, mainstream media pundits, and the rest of the usual suspects would like you to believe.

• Project Gunrunner

ATF Fact Sheet

ATF is deploying its resources strategically on the Southwest Border to deny firearms, the “tools of the trade,” to criminal organizations in Mexico and along the border, and to combat firearms-related violence affecting communities on both sides of the border. In partnership with other U.S. agencies and with the Government of Mexico, ATF refined its Southwest Border strategy. ATF developed Project Gunrunner to stem the flow of firearms into Mexico and thereby deprive the narcotics cartels of weapons. The initiative seeks to focus ATF’s investigative, intelligence and training resources to suppress the firearms trafficking to Mexico and stem the firearms-related violence on both sides of the border.

Most of the firearms violence in Mexico is perpetrated by drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) who are vying for control of drug trafficking routes to the United States and engaging in turf battles for disputed distribution territories. Hundreds of Mexican citizens and law enforcement personnel have become casualties of the firearms-related violence. DTOs operating in Mexico rely on firearms suppliers to enforce and maintain their illicit narcotics operations. Intelligence indicates these criminal organizations have tasked their money laundering, distribution and transportation infrastructures reaching into the United States to acquire firearms and ammunition. These Mexican DTO infrastructures have become the leading gun trafficking organizations operating in the southwest U.S.

Firearm tracing intelligence is critical because it allows ATF and its partners to identify trafficking corridors, patterns and schemes as well as traffickers and their accomplices. Firearms tracing helps identify firearms straw purchasers, the traffickers, trafficking networks and patterns, thus allowing law enforcement to target and dismantle the infrastructure supplying firearms to the DTOs in Mexico.

• ATF, DOJ Launch Damage Control Effort Over Growing Project Gunrunner Scandal

A major scandal is developing around a signature U.S. effort to track and stop the flow of illicit weapons to Mexico, as officials at the Department of Justice close ranks, hoping to cover up an investigation critics say is responsible for an untold number of dead.

The investigation was known as Project Gunrunner — a joint task force headed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Department of Justice — that took place in 2010.

[…] Records show Gunrunner was aware of more than 1,000 weapons sold from 10 Arizona gun stores to roughly 50 straw buyers. More than two-thirds of those guns have already been recovered at crime scenes in the U.S. and Mexico.

[…] Already sources say those guns can be traced to hundreds of robberies, rapes and murders. Critics say ATF knowingly allowed those sales to take place and failed to make arrests of known smugglers, thereby intercepting the guns before they crossed the border.

• Murdered Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry Was Armed with … Beanbags?

Late on the night of December 14, an elite tactical unit of the U.S. Border Patrol known as “BORTAC” was working the Peck Canyon, northwest of Nogales. They were hunting a “rip crew” suspected to be operating in the area. A rip crew is a predatory criminal gang that targets drug couriers and illegals being smuggled over the border. They ambush their victims, robbing and assaulting them for their drugs or few possessions, supposing their criminal victims will never report their crimes to authorities.

Using night vision equipment, the BORTAC team spotted five men moving through the Canyon, two of whom were carrying rifles. At least one of the officers identified the men and yelled at them to drop their weapons. Then things went bad:

When the suspected aliens did not drop their weapons, two Border Patrol agents deployed “less than lethal” beanbags at the suspected aliens. At this time, at least one of the suspected aliens fired at the Border Patrol agents. Two Border Patrol agents returned fire, one with his long gun and one with his pistol.

Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was shot with one bullet and died shortly after. One of the suspected illegal aliens, later identified as Manuel Osorio-Arellanes, was also shot.

Yes, you read that correctly. Faced with men using rifles, Border Patrol agents used beanbags. Why? Because of an alleged agency policy that requires engaging armed men with beanbag rounds.

[…] it’s a matter of near criminal proportions that both long-held and carefully researched doctrine about the use of force was thrown out the window in favor of what was clearly a bureaucratic initiative made by someone hoping to mitigate the political fallout that might occur if Border Patrol agents shot a criminal alien and either killed or seriously wounded him or her.

Border Patrol officials lied at least once about the order to use beanbags in what appears to be an obvious attempt to cover up a lethally poor policy.

• ATF Encouraged Gun Sales To Cartels

[…] the gun used to murder U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was purchased at a gun store in the United States, with the knowledge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.