I guess this is a pretty straightforward story, but still...
The manager of a men’s club in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to attempting to smuggle ammunition south of the border, officials said Friday.
Raul Alvarez, 29, a U.S. citizen, was arrested in December after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers found 282 rounds of ammunition, three pistols and eight assault rifle magazines in a secret compartment in his sport utility vehicle, according to court documents.
...282 rounds. Less than three boxes. That's a good day at the range for a lot of people. I know I've burned up that many rounds at one whack a few times. Thomas Bean had that much sitting around in the back seat of his truck when he was thrown in jail. Like one of the commenters said, that story could have been about him stashing part of his collection. He actually called it an "arsenal," but I refuse to use such a loaded term...)
Speaking of munitions, Mexico and drug traffickers, I was reminded of this from JR, and a thought came to mind. From what I've read about the Merida Initiative, that plan doesn't include any direct financial aid to Mexico (i.e. cash), but other Mexican aid programs do involve money transfers to the Mexican government. It'd be interesting to find out how much of that money goes to the Mexican military, because it's probably a pretty safe bet that money's used to buy more munitions for the Mexican military, a fair portion of which in turn makes its way to the drug cartels. Why is it that no one talks about that either?
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