Slog
News & ArtsSaturday, November 13, 2010
Drugs / International Vigilantes Kick Out Cops in Another Mexican Town
Posted by Brendan Kiley on Sat, Nov 13, 2010 at 5:43 PM
October began with the citizens of Ascension, Chihuahua kicking out the police and taking over their own municipal security. October ended with the citizens of Tepoztlán, Morelos (just south of Mexico City) doing the same thing:
On the last week of October the Mexican people of Tepoztlán, Morelos expelled the local police chief from the area after an increase of violence in the city. The local mayor of the town, which is located 80 kilometers south of Mexico City, removed the police commander and seven of his subordinates after a mobilization from residents. Now the security of Tepoztlán is in the hands of citizen brigades, bringing back a period from the 1990s when the crime rate was lowered dramatically due to the departure of the police.
Huh. Fewer police leading to less crime? In a country where the narcos and the government and law enforcement have been thoroughly integrated at least since the Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914 and the beginning of the U.S. drug war? Who'da thunk it?
Meanwhile, just north of Mexico city, police are looking for pre-teen assassins:
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican police on Friday detained a minor accused of working as a gunman for a drug cartel after shocking videos and photos surfaced online of fresh-faced boys mugging for the camera with guns and corpses.One video, briefly posted on YouTube, showed a youth, apparently in his teens, confessing to working for a branch of the Beltran Leyva cartel. While the authenticity of the video could not be determined, cartels in Mexico frequently post such interrogation videos to expose their rivals' crimes.
The youth tells an unseen questioner that his gang was paid $3,000 per killing.
"When we don't find the rivals, we kill innocent people, maybe a construction worker or a taxi driver," the youth is heard saying.
And who's arming these kids? The same people who are buying their drugs: U.S. citizens. From WLKY in Kentucky:
On Tuesday, two students from the University of Texas at El Paso were shot and killed, just over the Mexico side of the border. On Wednesday, gunmen attacked the newsroom of a newspaper in Acapulco, peppering the building with bullet holes. Six Americans have been killed this month as a result of the violence.Mexico's brutal drug war is fed, in part, by firearms.
Mexico's president said earlier this year that over a three-year period, about 75,000 guns were seized in his country. Most estimates are that about 80 percent of those firearms were bought in the United States.
Now, it appears some of those guns could have been purchased in the Louisville area.
And how are the people of Ascension, who ejected the police last month, doing? I can't find any specific updates—hey New York Times, got a Mexico correspondent you could send there? We'd all love to hear how this experiment is going—but there don't seem to be any screaming headlines about anarchic violence or soaring crime rates...
1
The 80% myth has been thoroughly debunked.
Yes, 80% of TRACEABLE firearms go back to the US, but guess who was the only major arms manufacturing nation to share serial numbers with the Mexican government?
The majority of the small arms are from ex-Soviet Bloc/China/Vietnam/NK etc which have no record system whatsoever (this is why we started arming the Iraqi Army with M16s, that way when we find insurgents with them, we can trace it back and find out who was selling their arms).
Yes, 80% of TRACEABLE firearms go back to the US, but guess who was the only major arms manufacturing nation to share serial numbers with the Mexican government?
The majority of the small arms are from ex-Soviet Bloc/China/Vietnam/NK etc which have no record system whatsoever (this is why we started arming the Iraqi Army with M16s, that way when we find insurgents with them, we can trace it back and find out who was selling their arms).
2
Don't confuse them with the facts. Don't you know that guns are the root of all evil, and therefore we should of course ban all of them? Just shut up and bash on guns like a good liberal. (And besides, most of the narcos are only interested in full-auto firearms, which you can't buy in your corner gun store. But there we go with the facts again.)
4
All vigilante wannabes, who are at most 15 from the neck up, need to watch the movie "The Ox-Bow Incident," or read the book. If you don't, and you fancy yourself as a vigilante, you'll end up in prison. But you'll probably end up there anyway. Never mind. Don't waste your money watching a movie whose script will go right over your head. Head on over to the Seattle Times for your I-hate-liberals fix.
5
P.S. from Charles' publicist: "It pleases him no end that you label Charles Y. Farley with the nasty epithet 'Lib' -- but he prefers that you capitalize it, thus: 'LIB.' It signifies that he cares at least as much about other people as he does about himself. He long ago swore off being a mean-spirited, zero-sum greed machine.
As for your other insults, Mr. Farley says, 'Your mommy is calling you, so go home now, wash your mouth out with soap, then wait for the men in white coats to take you away for a little "time-out."'"
As for your other insults, Mr. Farley says, 'Your mommy is calling you, so go home now, wash your mouth out with soap, then wait for the men in white coats to take you away for a little "time-out."'"
6
Any semi-auto will act like an auto if you buy one of those (illegal?) spring-loaded trigger assists.
7
@2: I'm an anti-gun liberal, just to remind you. And your comment about automatic weapons is spot-on; you can't get them at your average gun shop, nor should you be able to.
The major problem is with the so-called "gun show loophole", which in 33 states allows vendors to sell pretty much anything to anyone without being required to perform a background check. A sizable majority of NRA membership believes that mandatory background checks are a good idea; I'm sure you do too. And yet the NRA and their shills in the GOP (and even a few across the aisle) continue to rabidly oppose any such measure.
The major problem is with the so-called "gun show loophole", which in 33 states allows vendors to sell pretty much anything to anyone without being required to perform a background check. A sizable majority of NRA membership believes that mandatory background checks are a good idea; I'm sure you do too. And yet the NRA and their shills in the GOP (and even a few across the aisle) continue to rabidly oppose any such measure.
8
Shit-for-brains @6: Thanks for proving to the world that you have no fucking clue what you're talking about.
VL: Hey, bud, in spite of having very different views on the subject, we've managed to be mostly cool with each other. But don't be putting words in my mouth.
Signed,
A member of the NRA Board of Directors
VL: Hey, bud, in spite of having very different views on the subject, we've managed to be mostly cool with each other. But don't be putting words in my mouth.
Signed,
A member of the NRA Board of Directors
11
Slog comments are full of surprises today. Tonight, 5280 is an NRA board member friend to, well, hmph. This morning Cleon Skousen's son popped up to defend his dad:
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Comme…
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Comme…
12
Aw, Gus, you haven't been paying attention. That's not the first time I've said that (or even the second or third time). Though I did think the comment from Skousen's son was interesting.
13
So Mexico is all fucked up like this because America has some sort of drug habit, is that what I hear? And these folks in Mexico who are killing the police, dealers, rehab folks, people on the street, military guys are getting rich and in fact running lots of places? Is that right? Well the problem is simple very simple, we need to clamp down even harder on drugs and instead of a Drug Czar we must have a Drug Lord Vader. Some one to really keep America's "war on drugs" going. (On drugs is right!) That way the Mexican drug merchants will be so well funded and rich that I'll be able to find work in Mexico cutting grass and raking leaves at a drug merchants villa. Finally a job!
16
I guess no-one has told you about the sorts of things the Mexican drugs gangs do to reporters who show an interest in their affairs.
And how are the people of Ascension, who ejected the police last month, doing? I can't find any specific updates—hey New York Times, got a Mexico correspondent you could send there?
I guess no-one has told you about the sorts of things the Mexican drugs gangs do to reporters who show an interest in their affairs.
19
@17: Did a Mexican girl once cheat on you and scar you for life? Get out of my Internets.
Also, Mexicans on average are the best soccer fans in Chicago; I envy their team spirit.
Also, Mexicans on average are the best soccer fans in Chicago; I envy their team spirit.
20
Fifty Two Eighty - Yup, you can't get fully automatic weapons in the US (legally) and there's absolutely no way to convert a semi-auto to a full-auto...
http://www.google.com/search?aq=0&oq=how…
Nope, no way at all to very simply buy a truckload of semi-auto weapons and train your pre-teen assassins to convert them to fully automatic killing machines. Not to mention how it's totally impossible to sand down the serial number so it can't be traced back to your buyer. Yup everyone should be able to carry any weapon they want, says so right in the Constitution.
http://www.google.com/search?aq=0&oq=how…
Nope, no way at all to very simply buy a truckload of semi-auto weapons and train your pre-teen assassins to convert them to fully automatic killing machines. Not to mention how it's totally impossible to sand down the serial number so it can't be traced back to your buyer. Yup everyone should be able to carry any weapon they want, says so right in the Constitution.
21
From the second link of your own search:
"Basicly, its a myth. The only guns easily converted are open-bolt semis. The ATF put a stop to them around '81.
Unlike closed-bolt semi-autos, which require addtional parts and/or machining to make them capable of full suto fire, open bolt semis were copies of full-auto guns that had extra parts to make them semi-auto. open bolt semi-auto MACs are an example of those. Current production MACs and clones are closed bolt."
Next time, try to make at least a slight effort to know what you're talking about.
"Basicly, its a myth. The only guns easily converted are open-bolt semis. The ATF put a stop to them around '81.
Unlike closed-bolt semi-autos, which require addtional parts and/or machining to make them capable of full suto fire, open bolt semis were copies of full-auto guns that had extra parts to make them semi-auto. open bolt semi-auto MACs are an example of those. Current production MACs and clones are closed bolt."
Next time, try to make at least a slight effort to know what you're talking about.
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