Thread: Federal agents hunt for guns, one house at a time

Federal agents hunt for guns, one house at a time

By DANE SCHILLER Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
June 30, 2009, 9:36PM

In front of a run-down shack in north Houston, federal agents step from a government sedan into 102-degree heat and face a critical question: How can the woman living here buy four high-end handguns in one day?

The house is worth $35,000. A screen dangles by a wall-unit air conditioner. Porch swing slats are smashed, the smattering of grass is flattened by cars and burned yellow by sun.

“I’ll do the talking on this one,” agent Tim Sloan, of South Carolina, told partner Brian Tumiel, of New York.

Success on the front lines of a government blitz on gunrunners supplying Mexican drug cartels with Houston weaponry hinges on logging heavy miles and knocking on countless doors. Dozens of agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — sent here from around the country — are needed to follow what ATF acting director Kenneth Melson described as a “massive number of investigative leads.”

All told, Mexican officials in 2008 asked federal agents to trace the origins of more than 7,500 firearms recovered at crime scenes in Mexico. Most of them were traced back to Texas, California and Arizona.

Among other things, the agents are combing neighborhoods and asking people about suspicious purchases as well as seeking explanations as to how their guns ended up used in murders, kidnappings and other crimes in Mexico.

“Ever turning up the heat on cartels, our law enforcement and military partners in the government of Mexico have been working more closely with the ATF by sharing information and intelligence,” Melson said Tuesday during a firearms-trafficking summit in New Mexico.
Firearms dealers visited

The ATF recently dispatched 100 veteran agents to its Houston division, which reaches to the border.

The mission is especially challenging because, officials say, that while Houston is the number one point of origin for weapons traced back to the United States from Mexico, the government can’t compile databases on gun owners under federal law.

Agents instead review firearms dealers’ records in person.

People who are legally in the United States and have clean criminal records, but are facing economic problems are often recruited by traffickers to buy weapons on their behalf in order to shield themselves from scrutiny.

Knocks at the door of the shack that looked to be the definition of hard times went unanswered.

“I am out of here,” Sloan said a few moments later, as a pit bull lazily sauntered from the back yard. “I don’t like pit bulls walking up behind me.”
Best information source

On second thought, Sloan switched to Spanish and interviewed a neighbor.

The neighbor said the woman left a month ago after a fight with her husband or boyfriend, who still lived there with what she called “other degenerates.”

“An angry ex-girlfriend or wife is the best person in the world, the greatest source of information,” Sloan said.

The night before, the duo were in a stakeout where they watched a weapons sale.

They also combined efforts with the Drug Enforcement Administration for an aircraft to stealthily follow traffickers to the border.

On this day, agents weren’t wearing raid jackets or combat boots and weren’t armed with warrants.

Guns were hidden under civilian shirts.

Another tip took agents on a 30-minute drive from the shack to a sprawling home with a pool in the back and an American flag out front.

It turned out two handguns, of a type drug gangsters prefer, were bought by a pastor for target practice.

Some stories, they say, are hard to believe.

The lamest so far came from a police officer: He said he bought a few military-style rifles, left them in his car and — on the same night — forgot to lock a door. He couldn’t explain why he didn’t file a police report or why he visited Mexico the day after the alleged theft.
Federal agents hunt for guns one house at a time | Chronicle | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

SO does this mean that we all have to take our guns down to the river and throw them in, just to make the gun-control nuts happy?

We already HAVE gun control, and we dont need anymore.

We already have laws that say you can be arrested for leaving firearms unsecure, where even a child could get to it. We already have laws that say you CANT buy guns for people who do not meet the criteria and qualifications to purchase one on their own. We already HAVE laws that make it illegal to sell a gun to someone who does not meet the qualifications to buy one. We already HAVE laws that make it illegal to deal in guns without licensing to do so. We already HAVE laws that make it illegal to transport firearms into Mexico without Mexican authoirity and U.S. authority to do so.

Banning guns is not the answer.....that only makes guns a more lucrative criminal market.

The answer IS to enforce the laws we already HAVE....not run out and try to make new ones. How about spending the money on enforcing what we already HAVE? If those laws were enforced, we wouldnt have problems. No one is dilligently enforcing.....they just want something NEW to make good-sounding political rhetoric.

If Mexico is having a problem with crime, then Mexico needs to get off of it's ass and go out and arrest criminals.....not shelter them politically like they are known to do. Why do you think that they have cartels operating out of there in the first place?

If Mexico cant get off of it's ass and handle it's business, then maybe we ought to think about annexing Mexico, and making it a State. We AMERICANS would be too happy to go down their and put matters in order, and send the Mexican flag to the museum.

Instead, what is happening here? The fukn liberals are running around villifying gun owners for the problems in Mexico. What a ridiculous state of affairs.

I'm a gun owner, a gun owner rights activist, and a self-defense affecianado. However, I definitely believe that the BATFE needs to be tracking down these people who make straw purchases and allow those firearms to end up in the hands of criminals and to severely punish them.

“I am out of here,” Sloan said a few moments later, as a pit bull lazily sauntered from the back yard. “I don’t like pit bulls walking up behind me.”

Note to self: Buy more pitbulls.

Originally Posted by INRI

Note to self: Buy more pitbulls.

If they can't get away from them they SHOOT the dogs instead.

Shoot the dirty Bastards!!
What the hell is the point in hiding guns?!?!
The Second Amendment is about Killing the Bastards not playing Hide and Seek!

Originally Posted by The_Grinch

If they can't get away from them they SHOOT the dogs instead.

*smiles*

Good luck unloading on six dogs charging at the same time, shlomo.

And then the next time you violate a man's castle, you better send a letter asking permission for a visit.

I'll have more dogs.

Originally Posted by JFC

Shoot the dirty Bastards!!
What the hell is the point in hiding guns?!?!
The Second Amendment is about Killing the Bastards not playing Hide and Seek!

These people aren't HIDING guns, JFC. These people are making "straw purchases" and then selling the guns across the border into Mexico or to criminals illegally.

Originally Posted by INRI

*smiles*

Good luck unloading on six dogs charging at the same time, shlomo.

And then the next time you violate a man's castle, you better send a letter asking permission for a visit.

I'll have more dogs.

I've got 9 rounds in my .45ACP. None of the dogs is likely to need more than 1 round of JHP to deter them. So long as the gun is already clear of the holster, I'm not that concerned, INRI. Then again when it's a SWAT team with automatic weapons or somebody with a shotgun it's an even smaller problem for them.

This is funny -- the AWE Xew is schooling us on handgun tactics.

Shlomo, pitbulls are very different from shooting 3 year old Palestinian children.