Quartermasters of the cartels - US gun manufacturers. Guns bought in the US and trafficked to Mexican drug cartels fuel

Guns bought in the US and trafficked to Mexican drug cartels fuel violence in Mexico and the migration crisis

Four soldiers from Mexico’s Secretariat of National Defense were killed in a crash. Three more soldiers were killed in the firefight that followed, and another 12 were injured.

The engagement was the first known incident of a cartel shooting down a military aircraft in Mexico. The cartel’s retaliation for the attempted arrest was swift and brutal. It set fire to trucks, buses, banks, gasoline stations and businesses. The distractions worked. Cervantes, also known as “El Mencho,” escaped.

The Browning machine gun that took down the helicopter was traced to a legal firearm purchase in Oregon made by a U.S. citizen. And a Barrett .50-caliber rifle used in the ambush was traced to a sale in a U.S. gun shop in Texas 4½ years before.

Many military-grade weapons like these are trafficked into Mexico from the U.S. each year, aided by loose standards for firearm dealers and gun laws that favor illicit sales.

https://theconversation.com/guns-bought-in-the-us-and-trafficked-to-mexican-drug-cartels-fuel-violence-in-mexico-and-the-migration-crisis-256070