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THOUGH IT GETS far less attention than undocumented immigration or drug smuggling, running guns to Mexico is big business, a southbound black market worth hundreds of millions of dollars. According to the best estimates, gunrunners move 700 to 800 guns into Mexico every day — about a quarter-million guns every year.
“It’s a booming industry,” says Jack Riley, a retired DEA agent who tracked cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán for 20 years. “To the cartels, smuggling guns and ammo across the border is just as important as cash coming back from the dope they sell. It’s something no one’s really talked about, and certainly the American people don’t know.”
The most striking thing about this black market is how few gunrunners are caught. Most of them are U.S. citizens, and in America there is no comprehensive federal law against firearms trafficking, making investigations difficult and the penalties relatively light, especially compared with smuggling drugs. Lawmakers have repeatedly introduced anti-trafficking bills in Congress, only to see them torpedoed by gun-industry lobbying. More generally, the National Rifle Association has spent decades successfully pushing for a legal environment in which gun owners are almost untouchable, giving hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign contributions to Republican politicians, and more than a few Democrats, who can be counted on to vote against any and all gun restrictions. As a result, there are more firearms in this country than there are people. Nearly 40,000 Americans died from gunshot wounds in 2017, the highest number since record-keeping began 50 years ago. A mass shooting takes place in America, on average, once a day.
Cont'd:
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/arming-mexican-cartels-inside-story-of-a-texas-gun-smuggling-ring-866836/
“It’s a booming industry,” says Jack Riley, a retired DEA agent who tracked cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán for 20 years. “To the cartels, smuggling guns and ammo across the border is just as important as cash coming back from the dope they sell. It’s something no one’s really talked about, and certainly the American people don’t know.”
The most striking thing about this black market is how few gunrunners are caught. Most of them are U.S. citizens, and in America there is no comprehensive federal law against firearms trafficking, making investigations difficult and the penalties relatively light, especially compared with smuggling drugs. Lawmakers have repeatedly introduced anti-trafficking bills in Congress, only to see them torpedoed by gun-industry lobbying. More generally, the National Rifle Association has spent decades successfully pushing for a legal environment in which gun owners are almost untouchable, giving hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign contributions to Republican politicians, and more than a few Democrats, who can be counted on to vote against any and all gun restrictions. As a result, there are more firearms in this country than there are people. Nearly 40,000 Americans died from gunshot wounds in 2017, the highest number since record-keeping began 50 years ago. A mass shooting takes place in America, on average, once a day.
Cont'd:
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/arming-mexican-cartels-inside-story-of-a-texas-gun-smuggling-ring-866836/
