Monday, March 09, 2009

No reason for a 'Sunset Period' on the NEW Assault Weapon's Ban

The USA has an obligation to stop the weapon migration to Mexico that are killing cops. What was going on with the Republican Administration that allowed the Assault Weapon Ban to expire?

Sorry, the NRA doesn't run this country or any other country anymore. The NRA has a very unique way to 'instilling' anarchy that propagates weapon purchases and demands for lawful possession of side arms everywhere in society.

The NRA will use any high profile shooting to instill fear so the only answer is for everyone to carry a sidearm. As that fear takes hold and people lawfully purchase weapons, the 'content' of weapon possession in the country grows and the greater the risk that the guns will fall into the wrong hands and they do. I cannot believe the police officers in Mexico are staring down the gun barrels of weapons sold in the USA. Why has this NOT been an issue before now?

Wait. Let me guess.

The Bush/Cheney White House believed in an economy at any cost even the cost of lives in the USA and other countries. Amazing.


Many Mexican drug cartels are utilizing the loose gun laws in many south eastern states to purchase assault weapons that are used in the Mexican drug war. Assault weapons are illegal to the general public in Mexico, so many Mexican drug moguls are smuggling weapons from the United States across the border into Mexico. Many of the Mexican authorities are ill-equipped to defend themselves against the powerful assault weapons and have consequently lost over 2000 police officers. Watch the video to get the full report.

Evidently, drugs are 'big business' in the USA.

Ruben Navarrette Jr.: Stop the flow of guns south of the border (click here)
By Ruben Navarrette Jr.
Posted: 03/08/2009 12:00:00 AM PST

It's time for the American people to stop living in a state of denial and get serious about stopping gun shipments into Mexico.


Mexico's ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan, has noted that as many as 2,000 weapons enter Mexico from the United States every day — most of them through Texas and Arizona, and many of them are purchased legally at gun shows and gun stores. Many of the transactions come in "straw purchases," where drug traffickers use Americans — including friends and relatives — to buy guns.


The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives estimates that 90 percent of the firearms confiscated in drug crimes in Mexico come from the United States, and some of the shipments can be enormous.


Both Americans and Mexicans tend to think of the border as the end of the Earth. It isn't. It's a turnstile. When someone goes north looking for work, Mexicans naively assume they have seen the last of him. And when guns go south looking for trouble, Americans assume the same about the havoc they create. Wrong on both counts. Immigrants are going back to Mexico because of a bad U.S. economy. Meanwhile, the gun violence that Americans subsidize south of the border is boiling over onto U.S. soil.


Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano didn't get the memo. She recently told a Senate committee that Mexico's drug violence had not spread to the United States. But only a few days earlier Homeland Security Director Steve McCraw told the Texas Legislature that violence from the drug cartels had — "no question about it" — spilled into Texas. Then there is Napolitano's own state of Arizona, where its largest city — Phoenix — is now considered the nation's kidnap capital because of spillover violence from Mexico.

Well, Janet, did you or didn't you get the memo; after all it could not be a surprise considering Arizona is intimately involved in 'the drug economy' in the USA. I realize it seems unbelievable that all this didn't surface while Bush was ignoring the Assault Weapon's Ban, but, it didn't. One is left to ask and INVESTIGATE why assault weapons were ALLOWED to flow over the Mexican/USA border with impunity? This isn't an 'over night' issue. Durg Cartels are a huge problem and bring their own problems to our cities in the way of illegal immigration that results in 'ethnic gangs.' So, when is the INVESTIGATION going to begin as to how this was all allowed by the previous administration, how did the facts evade the USA Homeland Security until now and why hasn't the Assault Weapon's Ban been passed?


According to the Justice Department, Mexican drug traffickers have a presence in at least 230 U.S. cities....


Get the feeling Bush/Cheney didn't care about the sovereignty of any country, but, only its wealth and assets?

Ariz.: Gun dealer sold to Mexico gangs (click here)

PHOENIX, March 9 (UPI) -- An Arizona man accused of supplying assault rifles to Mexican drug cartels faced trial Monday on forgery, fraud and money laundering charges, prosecutors said.
The trial of Phoenix gun store owner George Iknadosian, 47, was set to begin Monday in Maricopa County Superior Court, where state officials have accused him of selling more than 700 weapons to "straw" buyers he allegedly knew to be fronts for Mexican drug cartels, The Arizona Republic reported.
The weapons allegedly sold at Iknadosian's X-Caliber store included high-powered guns of the kind frequently used by drug gangs to overpower Mexican federal police, the report said. Authorities told the newspaper they hope to crack down on the flow of weapons to Mexican cartels by targeting illegal sales at U.S. gun stores and gun shows.
Observers said the case is unusual because it involves cooperation between Mexican and U.S. authorities, with Mexican prosecutors sitting in on suspect interviews and providing materials for the case, the Republic reported.
Iknadosian has pleaded not guilty to the charges, the newspaper said.


Mexican cartels plague Atlanta (click here)
Updated 8h 39m ago

By Larry Copeland and Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
ATLANTA — In a city where Coca-Cola, United Parcel Service and Home Depot are the titans of industry, there are new powerful forces on the block: Mexican drug cartels.


Their presence and ruthless tactics are largely unknown to most here. Yet, of the 195 U.S. cities where Mexican drug-trafficking organizations are operating, federal law enforcement officials say Atlanta has emerged as the new gateway to the troubled Southwest border.

Atlanta? Atlanta? Hm? Perhaps the temptation of entering through Florida is more than just 'boat people.'


Rival drug cartels, the same violent groups warring in Mexico for control of routes to lucrative U.S. markets, have established Atlanta as the principal distribution center for the entire eastern U.S., according to the Justice Department's National Drug Intelligence Center....


It is so good to know that 'teenagers' can find gainful employment these days, huh? I always thought the first job any USA youngster should 'try out' would be gang related violence. I mean, didn't you? Such high aspirations for our children I've never witnessed from the previous administration. Seriously, NEVER witnessed any high aspirations.

3 Woodstock High School Students Arrested, Assault Rifles Recovered (click here)
Atlanta, GA 3/05/2009 05:35 PM GMT (TransWorldNews)

Three Woodstock High School students were arrested Thursday morning after Holly Springs police got a reports that they were on their way to the Georgia school with assault rifles and handguns.
Forrest Busby, 17, was arrested at the high school. He was charged with possession of a weapon on school grounds, possession of a revolver by a person under 18, carrying a concealed weapon, theft by receiving stolen property, interference with child custody, manufacturing and distributing controlled suspect and disruption of a public school.
An AR-15, Mini-14 and 200 rounds of ammunition were found in Busby’s house. He is being held without bond.
A 15-year-old student, whose name has not been released, was also arrested. He is charged with party to the crime of possession of a weapon on school grounds, party of the crime of possession of a revolver under the age of 18, theft be taking firearm, runaway and disruption of a public school.
A third student was arrested but has not been charged. Authorities say it is unclear what the students planned to do. MAYBE the teens were getting a mixed message about weapons and the value of life? Ya think? Several guns were also found in the school.
Woodstock High School, Woodstock Middle School and Etowah High School were all placed on lockdown.