Sean Campbell

1 month ago | reflector.com | Sean Campbell |Topher L. McDougal

1 month ago | theconversation.com | Topher L. McDougal |Sean Campbell

Since 2008, the U.S. has spent over US$3 billion to help stabilize Mexico and stem its surge in extreme violence. The U.S. gun industry and interest group lobbyists have undercut these efforts by advocating for lax regulation and enforcement. This has created mayhem south of the border, and its effects have ricocheted to the U.S., boosting illegal drug trade and organized crime.

1 month ago | sfgate.com | Sean Campbell

An Academy store in Edinburg, just outside of the border city McAllen, received three citations, including sale of firearms to a prohibited person, according to the Brady Center’s inspection data. The store sold nine weapons that were recovered in Mexico, according to the trace data. A store in Midland that was likely tagged for not reporting the sale of multiple rifles sold 11 firearms recovered in Mexico.

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Sean Campbell |Topher L. McDougal

Illegal firearm trafficking is inseparable from the illegal drug trade: Weapons are often bought with drug money, can strengthen cartels and can be traded for drugs. In the spring of 2021, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, known as ATF, started a gun-trafficking investigation that ran from Idaho, down through California and into Mexico.

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Sean Campbell |Topher L. McDougal

A gunsmith from a rural town, a former Marine, and half a dozen others were under investigation in San Antonio, Texas, starting in the summer of 2018 for trafficking more than half a million dollars worth of guns and ammunition to the Cartel del Noreste, a drug cartel prominent in northeast Mexico with connections to former Mexican soldiers. Jose J. Soto Jr. was in the U.S. Armed Forces from 2004 to 2015, including a stint with the elite Army Rangers.