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.

Friday, April 15, 2011

AZMEX UPDATE 5-6-07

AZMEX UPDATE 5 JUN 2007

Note: Is it time to demand results of traces, to really see where
most of these firearms really originate?
Not just the ones that may have come from here.
Also, what about the numerous smash and grab gun store thefts?
thx

Mexican, U.S. law agents worried about drug cartel violence
Arthur H. Rotstein
Associated Press Writer
Jun. 5, 2007 07:14 PM

ORO VALLEY - A power struggle between drug cartels in northern Mexico
is "an outright war" and its bleed-over into Arizona is a major
concern, law enforcement officials attending an annual Arizona-Sonora
police conference say.

Three weeks ago, some 50 gunmen arrived in a convoy in Cananea in
northern Sonora and killed seven people, including five police
officers, before Army troops and police pursued them, killing 16
according to Mexican authorities.

The shootings have remained a prime topic of discussion among lawmen
on both sides of the border, including at the 23rd conference of
Policia International Sonora-Arizona meeting here this week.

The conference is designed to let officials on each side of the
border get to know each other, talk about major issues and come up
with strategies to address major common concerns while fostering
cooperation.

The gunmen in the Cananea incident were identified as "Zetas," former
Mexican army elite soldiers, apparently allied with one group of drug
operatives who had lost control of smuggling operations in northern
Sonora to another group based in the state of Sinaloa.

Officials believe the slain police officers were targeted for
betraying an agreement with a cartel.

"Obviously, the Cananea thing is big, but also it's what's going on
with the drug cartels in Mexico and the effects in the U.S.," said
David Gonzales, United States Marshal for Arizona.

"The overall power surge, killings of officials and citizens to
establish their power base - it's an outright war," Gonzales said.
"And the cartels are going to go against the (Mexican) government"
and anyone in their way, he said. "They will kill and spend any
amount of money to establish" their dominance.

Public security issues and killings in Sinaloa stem primarily from
organized crime's drug trafficking and production, said Jesus Alfredo
Lopez Reyna, an official with that Mexican state's attorney general's
office.

"It's a constant battle, because the monster's so very powerful," he
said.

With the situation in Cananea, he said, "It's important that the
state give the proper and effective response to these types of
incidents."

Lopez added, "We will prevail against the delinquents."

Lt. Gerardo Castillo, commander of the Santa Cruz County Metro Task
Force based in Nogales and president of this year's police
conference, said he believes Mexico is going through "a turf battle
more than anything. They're trying to capture a major corridor."

"We are concerned as far as the bleed-over into the United States, as
far as the criminal activity," said Deputy U.S. Marshal Luis Noriega,
the Mexico investigative liaison.

"Criminals do not recognize the border; for them it's porous. So we
have to be on alert that any time something does happen of a violent
nature in Mexico, especially along the border ... that there'll be
the overflow or the bleed-over here into the United States."

Gonzales said that spillover has occurred. Drug cartels in Mexico are
coordinating and working with Hispanic-American street gangs to
smuggle guns and people, he said.

"It makes sense, because American street gangs know how the system
works through the United States, they have their contacts, they have
their routes that they use, they have their whole structure set up,"
Gonzales said.

Law enforcement officials on both sides of the border say they
believe Mexico's government will prevail in the long run in its
heightening battle with drug interests.

"The line has been drawn in the sand, and I think President Felipe
Calderon and the Mexican officials understand that if they let up and
show signs of weakness, it's only going to be worse," Noriega said.
"But in the meantime, there's going to be a lot of bloodshed and a
lot of people are going to die on both sides of the border."

Noriega said that in informal conversations with officials from
Mexico at the conference, "our impression is that they have already
had some successful operations in Sonora."

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