Apparently this is the menace we’re exporting South of the Border:
– An AK-47 and .38-caliber Super pistol with diamond-encrusted grips found after the Nov. 2 killing of the police chief of the northern state of Sonora as he walked into a hotel about two miles south of the Arizona border.
– A .38-caliber Super pistol seized a year ago when Mexican special forces captured a top Sinaloa cartel lieutenant, Alfredo Beltran Leyva, and three members of his security team in Culiacan.
– Three assault rifles recovered after patrolling federal police officers were fired upon and responded by killing four gunmen from the Beltran Leyva drug gang on July 2 at a house in Culiacan.
This is a rare caliber in the United States. Go into most gun shops, and they typically won’t have anything in this caliber. Even at a gun show, you’d probably be lucky to find more than one or two. But here’s a clue:
Drug smugglers seek out guns in America because gun laws in Mexico are more restrictive than in the United States. Mexicans must get approval for a gun purchase from the Mexican defense department and are limited to guns with a caliber no higher than the standard .38-caliber. Larger calibers are considered military weapons and are off-limits to civilians.
So, .38 Super is legal in Mexico, and tends to be a higher powered smaller diameter cartridge. Doesn’t it stand to reason that they might be more common there, while they are relatively uncommon here? Could it be possible that .38 caliber firearms turning up in Mexico did not originate in the United States? I have no doubt that there are straw purchasers working for people smuggling guns to Mexico, but the only way to deal with that is to make it illegal for anyone to buy a gun, and that’s not going to happen. You know how else we could deal with this? Securing the border.
All this brew-ha-ha about guns imported into Mexico is about the Mexican .gov trying to save face and being unable to admit that these guns are coming from their corrupt military and police. Funny how areas with alot of gun control also have huge corruption problems.
A gun chambered in 38 super should pretty much be assumed to be a mexican gun. No one else in this area of the world uses it except mexican civilians.
It’s uncommon in America because 38 super is just a more expensive and slightly more powerful version of 9mm. It’s only necessary in Mexico because 9mm is illegal there.
In any case, this is obviously not a gun trafficking case with a US connection. The only Americans that use 38 super are competitive pistol shooters.
Sure, they’ll go to the trouble of illegal smuggling, but be sure to bring in a Mexican-legal caliber. Makes a ton of sense.
Yeah, I can see that it might be easier to get .38 Super ammunition in Mexico. But where are they finding the guns up here? Are they having their straw buyers special order?
I mean, I know it’s not impossible to find a pistol in .38 super, but you have to imagine at some point, it’s just easier to smuggle ammo too.
Drug lords are scum of the earth. No different than gang members. What they just don’t get is that in the real world they are just big, fat pussies who nobody gives a fuck about.
I say just let em kill each other. Who cares about Mexico anyways?
I love the use of “.38-caliber Super pistol” I wonder if that was intentional to make the gun sound like some “military-style” weapon rather than a single-stack 1911 in a zippy 9mm caliber.
OH NO he has a “Super Pistol” Dispatch we’re going to need the SWAT team!!
i think that the actual rule in Mexico is that any caliber used by the military is prohibited to civilians. now does anyone else have the vision in his head of some Narco kingpin with a diamond encrusted full race IPSC gun?
Just look at the names of the .38 Super pistols (from a Mexican website/forum) and tell me what country is the main market where they are sold: El Presidente, El Comandante, El General, El Capitan, El Patron, El Jefe, El Dorado, El Teniente, El Coronel, El Caballero, El Potro, El Campeon, El Centauro, El General 5 Estrellas, El Embajador, El Oficial, El Aguila, El Cabo, El Jefe Supremo, El Sargento, El Soldado, El Toro, El Senador, El Obra Maestra, El Matadore, El Rey…
According to The Outdoor Network: Probably the only thing that kept it alive for those decades was its popularity in Mexico, Central, and South America where it was the most powerful pistol cartridge that was not a military round.
This is the exact same article that has been in circulation for some time; complete with the “Super Pistols” garbage. I have seen a variation of it for a couple of years, but here are some within the last year:
– http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4695848&page=1
– http://akeyboardanda45.blogspot.com/2008/06/gunz-n-mexico.html#links
– http://fateoflegions.blogspot.com/2008/04/super-guns.html
– http://confederateyankee.mu.nu/archives/260866.php
And yes, I snuck my link in there! In my defense, I wrote a letter to ABC to tell them that their article was bunk. I never did get a reply.