“Border officials say they caught a Fort Worth woman trying to smuggle more than a dozen assault rifles into Mexico in the trunk of a BMW,” kdfw.com reports.
“The 22-year-old woman, who is a U.S. citizen, was turned over to immigration and Homeland Security officials. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials did not release her name. On Tuesday, CBP officials took a second look at the woman’s 2001 BMW 740 as she drove across the border at Del Rio . . .
In the trunk they found 14 assault rifles, a shotgun, a pistol, 22 gun magazines and 25 rounds of ammunition, according to a news release.
Most of the assault rifles were AK-47s and AR-15s, said the CBP.
Man, don’t you know those ATF guys are stittin’ around thinkin’ “Whew! This will divert attention away from all that Gunwalker crap. People will believe that there are people smuggling assault rifles into Mexico.”
Yes but—where was the ATF in all this excitement? Isn’t this exactly the kind of action Project Gunrunner is supposed to tackle? What’s the point of sucking up $160 million in “emergency” funding, opening four new branch offices, hiring dozens of new agents and setting up elaborate stings when some guy at the border can catch a gun smuggler just by stopping a car?
In fact, why didn’t some astute media flak at ATF make sure they horned-in on the bust before it went public? You know; to catch those gun smuggling kingpins that the Inspector General wanted so bad. Or at least get some credit for doing good when they’ve been caught in a world of doing wrong.
Maybe the Customs and Border Protection (CPB) is slightly miffed that the ATF put guns in the hands of a drug gang that used the weapons to murder one of their own. Of course, if we wanna get REALLY weird, we could go the tinfoil hat conspiracy route . . .
Say, Agent Stan…didn’t you say you really wanted to ditch that woman you’ve been dating? Just give her this sweet ride we had in the impound lot and tell her to meet you in Del Rio for a ‘nooner. We’ll take it from there. We’ll get ourselves out of this Gunwalker scandal and solve your dating problems in one fell swoop! . . . Whaddaya mean CBP got to her before we could get across the border to stop her there?
A headline announcing a U.S. to Mexico weapons bust like this could have done a lot to mitigate the bad PR the ATF’s been a-gettin’ as of late. Notice the use of the past tense. I would imagine things are way past tense over ATF-way.
Why in the Wide, Wide World of Sports didn’t we get this collar? Who in the Hell let CBP get out in front on this thing? Why didn’t WE know about it? What are we spending all that money on, anyway?
I was just kidding about that last bit. Given the highly insular nature of all governmental bureaucracies, I’m sure nobody at ATF thinks anything about taxpayer money-fueled budgets other than “mine.” I’m sure they look on what they do as God’s Work, and how dare you impune their motives and methods with questions about filthy lucre. The nerve!
The simple truth: when guns DO head South, Me-hi-co way, the good Ole U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the best agency to interdict the flow. If the ATF knows there are guns headed south, they should simply give Border Protection a heads-up and let them take it from there. I guess that’s a problem when you’re the ones creating the trade in the first place.
Seems a little unbelievable that the ATF would set this girl up. I read a story a while ago about drug smuggling where the cartels would pay 14-16 year olds to carry drugs across the border near Tijuana for a couple hundred dollars. They also told the kids that if they were caught they wouldn’t get jail time since they were minors. Some kids got caught and realized they were lied to about that no-jail-time thing.
I bet this girl was doing this to pay off student loans or get money so a sick relative could get some kind of operation they couldn’t otherwise afford. It’ll be some sob story that’ll take attention away from her and put it on the gun issue. The question is how the guns were purchased… did she buy them?
I’m not saying they did. I’m just saying that, as weird as the Gunwalker story is, I can see the possibility of something like that happening, at some level. If some low-level type goes Cowboy, there’s no tellin’ what could happen. And remember, it’s not the crime…it’s the coverup.
“Of course, if we wanna get REALLY weird, we could go the tinfoil hat conspiracy route …”
Why turn back now? You’ve already taken a running jump off the deep end.
Look at what you’re saying: This Border Patrol bust is clear evidence of ATF shenanigans, except maybe it’s not, except maybe it is, etc. Wheels within wheels, all of them turning within your own imagination. You’re just riffing on your own conspiracy theories.
If I’d told you last year that the ATF were allowing guns to be smuggled into Mexico, maybe even walking them in, and that one of these guns would be used to kill a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent, would you have believed me? And I’m sure there’s more weirdness to come.
For all the crap the ATF has pulled in the past, they deserve whatever finger pointing, jokes, and conspiracy theories that come their way.
The existance of the ATF is just one more example of the stupid redundancy in government. There are so many departments that can do the same thing.
“where was the ATF in all this excitement?”
Polishing political and journalistic nob to cover their rear and protect their funding.
WE dont need the ATF. What we need is competence and more training for those in LE. This would provide for their (LEOs) safty and ours.
P.S. Need to ask. What did she do, just laythe guns down in the trunk? Did they even try to make an effort to hide that many arms in a BMW. Too easy!!!?
I hate to say it, but if she were driving a ’96 Toyota Corolla, the Boarder Patrol probably wouldn’t have given her a second look.
The old misdirection play and we fell for it. The guns were legal. She was smuggling the Beemer.
CBP = Customs and Border Protection; Border Patrol is a separate unit within DHS.
I love the way they keep changing both the org chart and the alphabet soup of names. I dunno if they’re trying to confuse us, or simply rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Probably both, now that I think about it.
I read about this incident. Why did ATF and not the Border Patrol make this discovery as the vehicle went across the bridge? Where is the car and who is the girl that supposedley was involved? Any pictures of the car and the girl? No, only a display of guns. Anyone can set up a photo shoot!
I posted this long ago but it went vapor so once agin..
Here’s my take since this is how corporate division and inter-gov-agency warfare works every day.
“Johnson! Those bastards over at BATFE are getting $160mm for that half-ass plan to ‘track guns’? We cannot allow this! Grab up a CI and some guns. Pull some average confiscated car before we auction it. Send them down to Me-hee-co and make sure OUR boys interdict her. I want that funding! Now, Johnson!
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