Monday, January 05, 2009

I regret I have to say retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey (updated)

is full of crap. The question is whether he's been snowed, or he's knowingly lying.
Mexican law enforcement authorities and soldiers face heavily armed drug gangs with high-powered military automatic weapons. Perhaps 90% of these weapons are smuggled across the US border. They are frequently purchased from licensed US gun dealers in Texas, Arizona, and California. AK-47 assault rifles are literally bought a hundred at a time and illegally brought into Mexico. Mexican authorities routinely seize BOXES of unopened automatic military weapons. The confiscation rates by Mexican law enforcement of hand grenades, RPG’s, and AK-47’s are at the level of wartime battlefield seizures. It is hard to understand the seeming indifference and incompetence of US authorities at state and Federal level to such callous disregard for a national security threat to a neighboring democratic state. We would consider it an act of warfare from a sanctuary state if we were the victim.

This is such a load of garbage it's hard to know where to start. First, there's not a firearms dealer in the country, let alone CALIFORNIA, that carries and sells those numbers of 'military automatic weapons' to private citizens. Period. Such firearms are strictly controlled, and to buy ONE you have to go through an anal exam from FBI and ATF to get the permit to pick it up from the dealer. And, they're expensive; assuming a licensed dealer could get hold of a hundred legal AK47 or AK74 rifles- the military select-fire McCaffrey is talking about- the price to buy them would be hundreds of thousands of dollars(bank alerting the feds to such a funds transfer, anyone?). AND let us not forget the buyer would have to fill out pages of federal paperwork, fingerprints and pictures and all, AND go through the background investigation BEFORE he'd be allowed to take delivery; does anyone actually believe that someone trying to buy that many automatic weapons would not get visits from the feds, who'd be digging into every word he's ever said or thing he's ever done?

Second, I've been told by FFL holders that a private citizen buying half-a-dozen plain old firearms at a time can cause ATF to call or visit wanting more information; yet we're supposed to believe that someone buying a HUNDRED AK variants at a time would not get scrutiny? Does McCaffrey not realize he's saying the ATF and FBI are so incompetent they can't notice a sale like that(if it even happened)?

Third, does anyone know of ANY firearms dealer who legally carries live hand grenades and RPGs, launchers and projectiles? Let alone sells them in numbers, let alone to just anyone who comes in waving cash?

Absolute bullshit. It's bad enough having the government of Mexico blaming us for their problems, but having McCaffrey second them on this garbage is disgusting.

Update: Uncle points out No dealer in the US can sell new automatic military weapons to anyone but the .gov and haven’t been able to since 1986. Which part I'd forgotten. So just where are all these 'military automatic weapons' supposedly being smuggled into Mexico from the US coming from?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is no short supply of stupidity.

Anonymous said...

I remember reading a post over at Tam's a while back where she warned about multiple purchases within a specific amount of time would automatically mean the generating of a form to report to ATF by the FFL.   I did some searching but couldn't find the specific post at Tam's I type of here?   Like you say, this has the strong smell of BS.

Robohobo said...

How about those weapons being sold by the government to the narcotrafficers? Ever thought of that? Arms dealers known BY THE GOVERNMENT selling to the gangs with the complicity of the BATF and DoD? Under the cover of fighting same gangs? Maybe by the Federales themselves? I know that this goes into the conspiracy theory world but this is the ONLY explanation that washes. Otherwise it is pure BS.

Thud said...

I'm only a visitor to California and i know this is crap...on the other hand a dealer like that could make my life so much easier...owning a home in Ca and not having a firearm makes me feel....English!

Anonymous said...

I'm willing to believe that the Mexican criminals have large numbers of weapons, but it completely defies all common sense to think that a criminal group skilled at international smuggling and money laundering would choose to buy their AK's in the most expensive market on the planet when they could just smuggle them in from some third world hellhole where they go for next to nothing.

Thirdpower said...

I wrote the good General a letter.

http://daysofourtrailers.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-letter-to-general.html

the pistolero said...

He was a damn drug czar under Clinton...of course he's full of crap.

NotClauswitz said...

He's full of crap. The Mexicans themselves fight and supply both sides, since in many cases the Gangs are run by the "Law," such as it exists. And China historically has been shown to supply the AK's, since they can't by definition or any legal wrangling come from California with our plethora of prohibitions.

Ride Fast said...

Let's pool our dough, send a crew to Mexico and start buying up all this military goodness.

Hell, I bet we could pick up a cheap tank to bring it all back into the states with.

Terrapod said...

Ahh! Anyone care to recall that our "friend" Hugo Chavez has taken delivery to some 200,000 AK rifles and a few container loads of ammo? Where do you think the corruptocrats in his "government" are selling them? The rat lines extend from Venezuela to all points of the compass.