The situation in Mexico has serious consequences for our Rights, and even our lives here in AZ and all along the Mexican border. We cannot emphasize enough how much it is in our interest to have a free, safe and prosperous Mexico as our neighbor. Many of us have family, friends there and they are our neighbor.

We strongly support the Human Rights of the Mexican people to be able to defend themselves. That means the Mexican people should once again have the rights and resources to possess, bear and use modern and effective firearms. As over 70 years of corrupt federal government and it's attending gun control have shown, the bumper sticker is so true. "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns". Mexico is a textbook example of the failures of gun control. While some very limited firearms are permitted on paper, and in practice, the real effect has been to disarm the good people of Mexico.
That was done by the very corrupt political party that ran a country rich in natural resources and people, into the ground to prevent a revolution, not to "control crime" as was the pretense.

As the archived reports will show, the defenseless people of Mexico have suffered way too much. They deserve much better. We need to help.

Given the gravity of the ongoing drug war in Mexico our neighbor to the south, ASR&PA has been working to monitor the border situation and it's many effects on our state and our members:

Including drug and human trafficking, with related issues of murders, kidnappings, home invasions, extortion, destruction of wildlife habitat, illegal immigration, white slavery, money laundering, expenses of incarceration and medical treatments, the list goes on and on. Also de facto cession of areas of the state to the DTO's; fugitives, cash, firearms and ammunition running south. Most of these issues could be significantly reduced by simply securing the border.

To get it out of the way, ASR&PA does support legal immigration, trade, and travel between our countries. Especially so that we and our Mexican neighbors can once again freely and safely travel to our neighboring countries for competition, training, hunting and just enjoy good company.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

AZMEX GUNRUNNER 12-12-08


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December 11, 2008 - 9:00PM

9 E.V. men arrested over gun sales to cartel

MIKE SAKAL, TRIBUNE

Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives and Mesa and Gilbert police Thursday arrested nine men throughout Mesa and Gilbert accused of selling firearms to a violent Mexican drug cartel, according to the ATF.

Bill Newell, a special agent in charge of the ATF Phoenix office, told the Tribune the men were arrested after nearly a yearlong investigation into the federal firearms violations for selling high-powered firearms to Sinaloa, a cartel based in Sonora, Mexico. He said authorities seized a number of high-powered firearms.

Sinaloa is one of four major drug cartels in Mexico and its members are currently known for purchasing high-powered rifles used in assaults against government and law enforcement officials and home invasions. The Sinaloa also is known for beheading its victims in the battle for Sonora, Newell said.

The men were arrested after warrants were executed at nine homes in an operation that involved about 50 law enforcement officers who assisted in the raids, Newell said.

The men were arrested after federal warrants were executed and now are in federal custody. They are accused of purchasing the firearms from local gun shows, gun shops and unlicensed dealers for people who cannot legally purchase them, Newell said.

The types of firearms seized at the residences were not immediately available, according to Newell.

"It's a war - it's an ongoing war down there, and they need ammunition," he said.

The men who allegedly purchased the firearms for Sinaloa members are facing at least 10 years in prison if convicted for "lying and buying," a program for people who knowingly purchase weapons for someone who cannot legally possess a firearm, Newell said. More arrests are expected, he said.

"We took down the whole network," Newell said. "If you go into a gun store and say a gun you are purchasing is for you, and it's not, you're looking at spending 10 years in prison. Of all the guns seized in Mexico, 95 percent of them are from the U.S."

ATF agents began the investigation into the illegal gun purchasing operation in January after receiving some information from a home invasion investigation in Tucson, Newell said.

He said he was unsure about other arrests, but added that the investigation was ongoing.

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