Weapons seized by BATF which were attempted to be smuggled into Mexico to arm the cartels
A push by U.S. and Mexican authorities to combat the high-powered arms trafficking that fuels Mexico’s bloody drug war is putting increasing numbers of suspected drug smugglers in court.
Prosecutions for federal gun law violations are on pace to reach a 20-year high in South Texas as federal agents work to stem the “iron river of guns” that officials estimate supply 90 percent of the weapons used by the cartels.
The push is stretching the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ 135 agents along the 2,000-mile border who are tasked with monitoring some 6,700 licensed gun dealers. In Texas the legal shops offer a buffet of high-powered automatic rifles, some of which have been used to kill thousands in drug-related violence this year.
“There’s no other source for guns,” said Francesca Perot, a Houston-based ATF spokeswoman. “It’s not rocket science — it’s cliché. The weapons come from here.”
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