Reports of Gun Smuggling to Mexico Recalls Fast and Furious Gunwalking Plot

A weapons supplier to the Los Chapitos faction fighting a cartel war against the sons of Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison, GazetteXtra reports. Alfredo Lomas Navarrete, a Culiacán cellphone store owner, “supplied ‘hundreds of weapons and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition’ to the cartel cell, known as the Valenzuela Drug Trafficking Organization. Prosecutors said many of the weapons — which included .50-caliber rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers — were acquired in California, Arizona and Nevada.”

“The majority of firearms trafficked into Mexico — including high caliber and assault weapons — are shipped from the United States,” claimed Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Sutton, further apportioning blame to “The rise of privately made firearms, or ‘ghost guns.’”

Left unexplored is how California, “A”-rated by Giffords for “the strongest gun safety laws in the nation and [being] a trailblazer for gun safety,” is a major source for cartel weaponry, particularly with its bans on .50 BMG rifles, “assault rifles,” and standard capacity magazines. More to the point: Where are the highly regulated by the National Firearms Act machine guns and grenade launchers coming from?

The intent here appears to be to once more blame “lax American gun laws” for Mexican cartel carnage and to assist in the deception; the report cites a 2013 University of San Diego/Brazilian think tank Igarapé Institute report, “The Way of the Gun: Estimating Firearms Traffic Across the U.S.-Mexico Border.” Conveniently, the report focuses on the civilian firearms market in this country and ignores the government corruption that accounts for actual military weaponry finding its way into cartel hands.

The conviction of Mexico’s top cop for being in the pocket of the Sinaloa cartel shows how embedded and systemic the corruption is. Add to that government-to-government military weapons transfers and a flow of the same coming in from Central America. As noted in my Firearms News article:

[M]any of the AKs are NOT of US origin. Models which are clearly Chinese and haven’t been U.S. imported in three decades which command prices of $1,800 – $3,500 here to collectors, are in very short supply. Also, many of the AKs are VERY worn and they are factory select-fire guns which means they came from somewhere else. Years ago, illegal AKs from decades of Central American wars could be purchased for less than $150 in Mexico – these guns come from elsewhere. As do other armaments.

Back in 2009, the Associated Press reported on cartel grenades coming into Texas from across the Mexican border, and “countless grenade attacks against police and rivals” happening there. While most, indeed, were of U.S. (and South Korean) origin, the only way they could have made their way into criminal hands was through homicidally minded official corruption.

But we’ve seen this all play out before, as noted in “Lies From Operation Fast and Furious ‘Gunwalking’ Resurrected in Mexican Lawsuit.” Curiously, that’s another factor the Igarapé Institute neglected to mention in its analysis.

And we’re seeing those same lies that led to the buildup to ATF’s lethally criminal “gunwalking ” plot repeat themselves in the media; case in point, as an aside in a recent report about a Mexican national working as an inspector for ATF in Tijuana who admitted to smuggling gun parts across the border:

“Nearly 70% of traced firearms used to commit crimes and seized in Mexico come from the United States, according to ATF.”

That used to be the claim the antis all made, but they started at “95 to 100 percent.”

So instead of being a flat-out lie, it’s now an insidious lie of omission because they don’t then inform:

No specific numbers on how many of those guns “recovered in Mexico and traced back to the United States” were, in fact, military purchases, but the State Department cables indicate a portion of the fewer than 12 percent of the traceable weapons actually came from the United States in gun shop/individual type purchases. Remember, that’s not 12 percent of the tens of thousands of weapons recovered – it’s only 12 percent of the weapons recovered that were traceable. It’s nowhere near the 12 percent figure that has been misquoted and used as evidence of the United States’ “horrific” problem of illegal gun sales.

It’s pretty obvious we’re being subjected to selective “reporting” exactly as the media was engaged in before a pair of obscure bloggers did the investigative journalism it refused to do. It’s also clear the manipulation is bordering on gaslighting with Opposite Day claims like:

“[M]oving the guns south is easier, since travelers entering Mexico face just a fraction of the scrutiny that northbound border-crossers face.”

That must be why there are upwards of 30M here illegally, while media apparatchiks tell anyone brain-dead enough to trust them that the open border is a “myth.”

That’s the real issue that needs to be addressed, and one that’s existential to the future of the Republic if it is to survive. It’s just too bad that none of our “gun rights leaders” dare to admit it and blindly refuse to acknowledge its effect on the “single issue.”

About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.