[hansen384cbh]

LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,3179205.story

In a case aimed at stemming the flow of U.S. weapons to the Mexican drug war, federal authorities indicted 20 men Tuesday on charges of buying an estimated 700 weapons in Arizona and conspiring to transfer them across the border, chiefly to the Sinaloa drug cartel.

The arrests, carried out by at least 100 federal agents, began early Tuesday, the latest crackdown targeting an international trafficking network that authorities say has seen as many as 60,000 weapons seized in Mexico and traced to U.S. sources.

"The massive size of this operation sadly exemplifies the magnitude of the problem: Mexican drug lords go shopping for war weapons in Arizona," Dennis Burke, U.S. attorney in Arizona, said in a statement.

Officials at the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said the case demonstrates the need to include long-barreled weapons in the requirement for gun sellers to report multiple weapon sales to a single buyer. The proposal has been opposed by the National Rifle Assn. and many gun owners as an inappropriate reach of federal authority.

[girlsround]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/02/02...rgs-gun-sting/

Arizona Attorney General Criticizes New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Gun Sting

Published February 02, 2011
| FoxNews.com

Arizona’s attorney general came out guns blazing when he learned that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg authorized a sting operation at a Phoenix gun show.

Attorney General Tom Horne said Bloomberg overstepped his power by not informing authorities in Arizona about the plan to send undercover investigators to gun shows to test how easily a gun can be purchased, MyFoxPhoenix reported.

Horne called the investigation a “public relations stunt,” and went further. In fact, Horne did his own sting, aimed at Bloomberg’s job performance, reminding the mayor, who's still trying to dig his approval ratings out of record amounts of snow, that crime statistics show major crimes have increased the past year in the Big Apple.

A spokesman from Bloomberg’s office did not take the criticism sitting down, and pointed out that New York is the safest big city in the U.S. Hard pressed to miss a parting shot, the spokesman made clear that New York City, at least per capita, appears to be two times safer in major felonies than Phoenix.

Bloomberg has been known to deploy similar stings involving guns across the country.

The sting, which was disclosed Monday, involved investigators hired by New York City to buy semiautomatic pistols after claiming that they probably couldn’t pass a background check, reported MyFoxPhoenix. Two separate sellers apparently sold the investigators 9-mm. guns despite the warning.

[JJoon077]

Arizona's lax gun laws are arming Mexican drug gangs and American street gangs. That sort of thing isn't making any American any safer.

[Liskaspexia]

Well, if Horne was not pulling a political stunt of his own, he'd stop crying about the issue and act on the information.

Nice to see Horne supports Jared Loughner, in wake of his shooting of Gabby Giffords.