TX Ammo Smugglers Nailed While F&F Gunwalkers Skate

Texas shooters who like to buy their ammo by the crate (and who doesn’t?) might want to check their six, because it seems the Department of Homeland Security has taken an interest in bulk ammo purchases near the Mexican border. At least when the purchaser looks or sounds Hispanic . . .From the Brownsville, TX Herald:

SAN JUAN — Federal and local authorities arrested two men accused of trying to smuggle more than 12,000 rounds of ammunition into Mexico.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations special agents say they saw Joshua Issac Ortega, 20, exit an area gun shop with 1,000 rounds of assault rifle ammunition on Tuesday, a criminal complaint states.

Agents called San Juan police officers, who visited Ortega’s apartment and saw him run out the back door upon their arrival, the complaint states.

Ortega told agents he had purchased the ammunition for someone else and that it was still in his car. He said more ammo was inside the apartment.

Agents seized 2,980 rounds from Ortega, who later told agents he was paid $100 for every 1,000 rounds of ammo he purchased. He said he had purchased another 3,000 rounds for a man named “Rowdy” in San Juan and had been told the ammo would be smuggled into Mexico beneath the body panels of a vehicle, the complaint states. Agents arrested Ortega on Tuesday.

A total of more than 12,500 rounds were seized from Ortega and another suspect, Carlos Rubio, and they’ve both been charged with exporting munitions without a license.

The Feds haven’t disclosed why they were keeping an eye on Ortega or staking out the San Juan gun shop, but I’m really concerned that my purchase of the occasional case of milsurp Commie ammo might somehow give the police Probable Cause To Believe A Crime Is Being Committed and to arrest me or get a search warrant for my home.

Because if it does, I should expect the boot on my front door any second now. I’ve had the pleasure of testing some very cool guns with very healthy appetites for 9mm and .45 ACP and 5.56, and I’ve put a lot of rounds through them in the name of journalism. Enough to raise the eyebrows of DHS agents who jumped on this schmuck about 1,000 rounds of rifle ammo, anyway.

Now maybe Ortega was a felon, or was already a suspect for other misdeeds, and this bulk ammo purchase was just the icing on the Probable Cause cake. I’m hoping the Feds freaked out for some other reason than the quantity of ammo he was buying, but after looking the other way while thousands of guns were smuggled into Mexico, don’t you think it’s pretty rich that the Feds are making such a stink over a few thousand rounds of ammunition?

If the U.S Government hadn’t allowed so many guns into Mexico in the first place, through smuggling and through official government-to-government transfers, maybe the drug cartels wouldn’t be shopping for as much rifle ammo. Just sayin.