Mexican Cartels Are Arming Themselves With Powerful US Sniper Rifles

[Music] mexico is on pace for another year of record violence in the first six months of 2020 there were 17 439 murders up almost 2 from the same time last year helping to fuel that uptick in violence is the jalisco new generation cartel or cjng the cgng leader is known as el mencho in the past few years his cartel has grown from this ragtag group of gunmen and pickup trucks into this powerful paramilitary force with high-powered weapons and armored vehicles in june gunman allegedly hired by almenco tried to assassinate mexico city's police chief and in july footage emerge of that cgng convoy these gunmen call themselves the elite group and pledge allegiance to omentum in both the convoy and the mexico city attack the cartel's firepower was on display they're armed with assault rifles with grenade launchers attached to the barrel heavy machine guns and also this gun this is a 50 caliber sniper rifle it's a powerful weapon that the cgng loves to show off other cartels use it too 50 caliber bullets are huge they can kill from over a mile away punch through armor and even take down helicopters these guns are outlawed in mexico but legal in most of the u.s and there's evidence that border states with loose gun laws like texas or arizona are supplying them to the cartels i think a lot of people are surprised when they when they learn that when they see that when they see a weapon that can fire a mile and a half being sold without any kind of control at a gun show and that how easy that is to get to organizations that are causing so much havoc in mexico and in in further south as well in central america and there's no way to track the guns after they're purchased some of them get smuggled across the border over the past few years at least 70 percent of all guns seized in mexico came from the united states the mexican army recovered 554 50 caliber rifles from 2010 to 2018 and all but one of those were traced back to the united states if you or i or any legal buyer wanted to get a 50 caliber rifle you could purchase one from a gun dealer in 47 states or if it were on sale at a gun show you could buy it it would be totally unregulated it would not require a background check it would not require any other kind of review you could bring it home with you that day you could then pass it over the border yourself or you could sell it to someone else at a profit and that person could bring it over the border it's very easy to get items like that over the border because most of the enforcement at the border is focused on people and things coming from south to north instead of north to south american guns going south isn't a new phenomenon it's been happening for years and u.s law enforcement has sometimes made the situation worse from 2009 to 2011 the atf allowed nearly 2 000 firearms worth 1.5 million dollars to be purchased in order to track the buyers and sellers who they believed were connected to mexican drug cartels the atf lost track of the guns and hundreds were later recovered at crime scenes in the u.s and mexico two of those weapons were found near the scene of a murdered border patrol agent in 2010 and in 2016 a 50-caliber rifle from that etf operation was found in a hideout used by el chapo american gun sellers have said for years that the smuggling isn't their fault but experts say common-sense gun laws could help stem the flow of guns from america to cartels in mexico i think the most important measure that the u.s federal government as well as state governments can take is to ban the civilian possession and and sale of assault weapons in 50 caliber rifles these have no real legitimate use in civil society except the illegitimate use of killing people but even with the violence rising south of the border and with mass shootings still happening regularly in the u.s it seems unlikely that congress will take action on sniper rifles or any other type of gun anytime soon

Channel: VICE News

Views: 3,489,919

Keywords: mexican cartels, Powerful US Sniper Rifles, mexico news, vice news mexico, vice news 2020, VICE News, cartel guns, VICE News Tonight, drug cartels, VICE on HBO, news, vice video, VICE on SHOWTIME, el mencho, american rifles, mexico violence, keegan hamilton, El Chapo, drug trafficking, el chapo de sinaloa, Nemesio Oseguera Servantes, The Mexican Army, Caliber rifles, 50-caliber rifles, vice el chapo, mencho

Id: LkRm1UJ2yqE

Length: 5min 1sec (301 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 20 2020