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To the Editor:
Re: Comment on Associated Press article on front page of Aug. 6 Bisbee Daily Review titled “Arms sales prove deadly in Mexico.”
As a federal firearms licensee located in Douglas, where we have sold more than 1,600 firearms (but no grenades, automatic weapons or explosives) over the past five years, I feel compelled to comment on the “ease” of obtaining firearms in the United States. Exercise of all rights and privileges by law-abiding Americans should always be done with ease. All firearms sales require a background check of the purchaser by the FBI. In a case where the firearm purchaser gives any indication that the purchase may be for any person who cannot legally purchase the item himself, the law requires the sale be refused and the purchaser be informed that the dealer suspects the purchaser of attempting to commit a federal felony by making what has come to be known as a “straw man buy.”
In cases where there is no real indication of such intent, but several paramilitary weapons are ordered or legally purchased simultaneously, our policy is to inform the purchaser that if the weapons are traced by either the Mexican or U.S. governments, I will be the one to identify the purchaser, and I will be a material witness in their prosecution.
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Several AK-47 weapons legally purchased from this store were used in murders in Naco, Sonora, Mexico, in November of 2005. Other weapons, mostly pistols, have also been recovered in other incidents. The weapons were traced; the purchasers (five to date) were identified, arrested, and prosecuted; and they are now federal felons. And they were all told the risks of illegal export of weapons as a part of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms’ proactive “Don’t Lie for the Other Guy” program.
Mexican government officials continually cry for tighter gun control in the United States, since it works so well in Mexico. More than one Mexican police official has told me that Mexico is a wonderful country to be a nobody, but a really tough place to be important. People there do not just choose to violate the law; they are usually given the choice of “silver or lead.” They do not have the ability to deal their own lead, unless they obtain it illegally; and there are millions of illegally held firearms in Mexico, held by the innocent as well as by the criminal elements.
Let us keep our facts straight and not move toward making U.S. citizens as powerless as their counterparts in Mexico. Licensed dealers are doing a good job of controlling illicit access to firearms. When a person with a clean criminal history commits a crime by illegally transferring a legally purchased firearm, he is easily caught and prosecuted due to the built-in safeguards of the system. I am committed to enforcing the firearm laws, and I am not hesitant to inform my customers of that fact.
I would welcome the opportunity to give you current, factual information regarding the firearms issues on both sides of the border, including specific cases of smuggling and firearms misuse. I can put you in contact with firsthand sources on both sides of the border, if you are interested in what is really going on in our own backyard.
The Associated Press does not have a clue, but is a good advocate for Mexico City.
Lynn Kartchner
General Manager, Allsafe Security
Douglas
Cathy wrote on Aug 27, 2007 12:56 PM: