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| Gun vault: Federal agent Thomas Mangan in Phoenix shows some of the illicit weapons the ATF has seized in border regions. Robert Harbison/Special to the Christian Science Monitor |
US steadies its aim at gun trafficking into Mexico
Extra manpower is slated to be deployed to the border to pursue smuggling cases, but the huge scale of the problem dwarfs the government's response.
from the July 20, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
According to an internal ATF report summarizing just 10 investigations in the Phoenix office since 2006, the gunrunning probes yielded almost 1,000 firearms probably "bound for Mexico, southern Arizona, and southern California."
In one of those cases, ATF officials documented an unlicensed merchant who spent at least 100 days selling firearms at gun shows over the course of a year, violating a law that permits such individuals to divest themselves of their gun collections only once in their lifetimes. Agents reported seizing 129 firearms from this dealer, but "due to the fact that most of the firearms sold by the defendant were obtained from secondary sources and then resold, little documentation exists that would link [guns used in crimes] to the defendant," the report said.
Another ongoing case involves a straw-purchase scheme among a foursome suspected of trafficking 130 firearms to Mexico, southern California, and Arizona. The document states: "To date, 21 [of those 130] firearms have been recovered in crimes, including 16 of them in Mexico. A firearm recovered in Mexico was used in the shooting of a Mexican police officer."
"Our priority is curbing gunrunning in the Southwest," says Newell, who currently manages 24 ATF agents working cases here in Phoenix.
A case for stricter gun-show rules?
In a state that has enacted stricter laws governing gun-show sales than the federal standard, does it make any difference?
Researcher Garen Wintemute says it does. His year-long survey of gun shows in five states found that California's "uniquely restrictive regulatory environment for gun shows" put a damper on the kinds of purchases that the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives is targeting.
California, in effect, doesn't allow unlicensed merchants to sell firearms at gun shows. Critics say that restriction just sends sellers to other venues.
Between April 2005 and March 2006, Dr. Wintemute "eavesdropped" on transactions at eight gun shows each in California and Nevada, six in Arizona, four in Texas, and two in Florida – all leading sources of California's crime guns, his study states.
In California, he found no "private party gun sales between attendees" of gun shows. In the other states, "private party sales appeared about equal in number to sales involving licensed retailers," says his study, released in June.
Wintemute, a professor at the School of Medicine at the University of California at Davis, reported that he observed one vendor at a Phoenix gun show whose sign read "PRIVATE PARTY SALE" in both English and Spanish and who "displayed AK-47-type and AR-15-type assault rifles and AR-15-type pistols."
Wintemute reported witnessing one "straw purchase" in California, compared with 24 definite and three possible straw purchases at the gun shows in the other states.
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