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April 1, 2009 · U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will travel to the Southwest border this week to discuss U.S.-Mexico Border security. Napolitano recently announced more resources to combat the gun and money trafficking fueling drug cartel violence.
Tom Crowley is a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). The bureau works with licensed gun dealers in Texas and trains them to spot “straw purchasers.”
“An illegal gun trafficker does not want his name on any paperwork or maybe he cannot pass a background check, so he employs friends neighbors anyone looking to make extra money to go in purchase a weapon for him and then he illegally traffics them,” Crowley said.
One of the most important jobs for the ATF is tracing firearms recovered by Mexican law enforcement to investigate the purchasers.
Ninety percent of guns recovered in Mexico come from the U.S., officials said. From those, a large majority comes from Texas, especially Houston. Stopping the flow of illegal weapons is difficult, said Franceska Perot, spokesperson for ATF’s Houston division.
“We have supply and they have demand,” Perot said. “Of course, you can’t buy guns in Mexico so [traffickers] will have to buy them elsewhere. With the U.S. so close—and basically a free market with gun rights—its going to be very difficult.”
Perot said the ATF has ramped up its efforts to fight firearm trafficking.
“With the stimulus bill we’re able to open more offices,” Perot said. “In the short term we’re bringing down about a hundred agents in the next 30 days that are going to be investigators and support staff in the South Texas area.” Texas officials will have the opportunity to give Napolitano a sharper picture of what's happening when she visits Laredo Friday.
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