Awareness campaign aims to reduce gun trafficking

McALLEN - Hundreds of radio and television commercials urging citizens not to agree to be middle men in illegal firearms purchases are expected to hit Rio Grande Valley airwaves this month.

The aggressive media blitz dubbed "Don't Lie for the Other Guy" is locally targeted to curb the flow of guns across the Rio Grande to Mexico's violent cartels. The syndicates routinely pay locals with clean records to purchase firearms they in turn smuggle to Mexico.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, a group that represents gun dealers, is launching the campaign with a grant from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The foundation expects to run 240 television and radio announcements, 10 posters and two billboards to stem so-called "straw purchases" - a federal offense that can lead to 10 years in jail with a conviction.

"Straw purchases are a huge factor in the crimes in Mexico," said ATF bureau spokeswoman Franceska Perot said. "It's a matter of supply and demand."

RAMPANT TRAFFICKING

Most of the high-powered guns used in Mexico's bloody drug wars are U.S.-made and illegally imported, officials said. Mexico's own draconian gun control laws drive demand for weapons to the other side of the border.

It works like this: the cartels solicit often poor and desperate people without a criminal history to purchase guns in exchange for a fee. Much like drug trafficking, officials have no real handle on the extent of the illegal transport of guns or the number acquired by straw purchases.

In February, William Hoover, ATF's assistant director for field operations, testified before Congress that 90 percent of weapons U.S. authorities traced for Mexican authorities in 2007 were purchased in the United States. Texas, California and Arizona topped the list of U.S. states where the weapons were purchased.

As part of Mexican President Felipe Calderon's drive to take on the cartels, his administration is stepping up coordinated efforts with the ATF to curb gun trafficking. The bureau renewed its own commitment to combating arms trafficking in January, launching "Project Gunrunner" - a combined law enforcement effort with local authorities and federal agencies.

That drive seems to be yielding results already. Gun crime prosecutions are on pace to increase 25 percent this year, according to ATF statistics compiled by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

In February, the bureau arrested four Starr County men for selling undercover agents silencers and machine guns with filed off serial numbers. Officials would not confirm if the group had a connection to the Mexican cartels.

AT HOME

The fact is while straw purchases fuel violent drug crimes in Mexico, they don't seem to have the same impact domestically.

The Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office routinely assists the ATF with enforcing federal gun laws, especially at the time of "gun shows," Sheriff Lupe Treviño said.

Most straw purchases, he said, funnel firearms across the border and are not used to stock local gang caches.

"Maybe some gang members who do not qualify to buy a firearm (may do a straw purchase), but all they're doing is breaking into homes and stealing them," Treviño said.

In fact, domestically, straw-purchased guns account for about 8 percent of firearms used for local crimes and recovered by authorities - far less of a problem than in Mexico.

"The reality of it is that straw purchasing is not a primary means of how (U.S.) criminals get (guns)," said Ted Novin, a spokesman for The National Shooting Sports Foundation.

SPOTTING STRAWS

Launched in 2000, the straw-purchasing awareness campaigns have targeted cities across the United States. Gun stores are papered with awareness flyers and owners and clerks alike watch training videos about spotting straw purchases.

Stopping those purchases, however, involves training gun store owners and clerks to notice the tell-tale signs that something just isn't right - a sort of customer profiling.

One gun store owner, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, said the signs of a straw purchase include a customer who knows little or nothing about guns, is willing to settle for an outrageous price and perhaps even leaves during the purchase to make a cell phone call.

"When they come in, if they say ‘I'm looking for an AR-15,' I may not even have any, but I'll ask them what kind." the store owner said. "Especially if it's a woman. I know that they're up to no good. I just know it. I either get in touch with authorities or tell them to take a hike."

____

Sean Gaffney covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4434.