Slightly OT: Mexican Militias

[Raellus]

Apparently, the Mexican government, which only spends about 0.6% of its GDP on its military, is now cooperating with local militias currently doing battle with a drug cartel in SW Mexico.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/nationworld/mexico/20140126-mexicos-cooperation-with-anti-cartel-militias-makes-some-uneasy.ece?ssimg=1402945#ssStory1402947

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/a-mexican-militia-battling-michoacan-drug-cartel-has-american-roots/2014/01/18/30f96894-7f92-11e3-97d3-b9925ce2c57b_story.html

I wonder where this militia is getting its assault weapons, being as all firearm ownership is highly restricted in Mexico. Is the government supplying them, or is a rival cartel?

I imagine that militias like these would become fairly common in most parts of the world during the later stages of the Twilight War. The second article alludes to how easily many of these civilian self-defense forces turn into gun-gangs ("marauders" in T2K parlance) after tasting a little power. Mexico may be heading the way of 1990s Colombia.

[stormlion1]

Its pretty scary how quickly these guys armed and have begun to make a difference. The question is how long until the cartels declare Total War against them and turn Northern Mexico into a warzone.

[Rockwolf66]

Its pretty scary how quickly these guys armed and have begun to make a difference. The question is how long until the cartels declare Total War against them and turn Northern Mexico into a warzone.

I guess you haven't been paying attention as Northern Mexico is Already a Warzone. I have Relatives down there and there are places they don't go. Heck the closest Major Mexican City to them is so violent it's been nicknamed "Murder City".

[Targan]

So where are the Mexican drug cartels sourcing their weapons from?

[Tegyrius]

So where are the Mexican drug cartels sourcing their weapons from?

Mexican and other South American nations' armories. Oh, and BATFE.

- C.

[headquarters]

I hear a lot of guns sold in the US end up in Mexican gangs either through :

theft from legitimate gun owners and subsequent sales to smugglers

or through unlawful purchases through front men or straw corporations that in turn smuggle firearms south.
What do the official numbers say when weapons are traced after capture?

[rcaf_777]

I wonder where this militia is getting its assault weapons

I am thinking here

[Raellus]

The question is, though, who's paying for all of those guns? The militia members profiled in the articles I've read aren't the types who could afford to purchase their own assault rifles, and it would take quite a bit of planning and organization to acquire hundreds of such guns through straw purchasers in the States. This all leads me to believe that there are bigger forces behind this self-styled "grassroots" movement.

[Brother in Arms]

In the U.S. Private sale isn't illegal except in certain shitty states...But most of america you can sell your firearm to another resident of the state you live in as long as they aren't under age or a felon.

But lets face it when you have millions of American dollars in Dope money you can pretty much do what you want were ever you want. And in my opinion government wants these illegal drugs and the associated crime that goes with it in the country for there own reasons. A well as illegal aliens (which amounts to legal slavery, but slaves that pay taxes!!!) also human sex trafficking. It all adds up to a lot of money, bribes, extortion and increased budgets for government types. I think everyone is on the take.

[Targan]

But lets face it when you have millions of American dollars in Dope money you can pretty much do what you want were ever you want. And in my opinion government wants these illegal drugs and the associated crime that goes with it in the country for there own reasons. A well as illegal aliens (which amounts to legal slavery, but slaves that pay taxes!!!) also human sex trafficking. It all adds up to a lot of money, bribes, extortion and increased budgets for government types. I think everyone is on the take.

Surely it would be better to legalise (under tight regulation) some of the currently illegal drugs, tax the hell out of them, treat the inevitable addiction problems as a health issue rather than a criminal issue, and use some of the resulting massive revenue stream to help enforce the system and greatly improve accessibility to the healthcare system?

I mean, that might seem like crazy lefty talk, but is the system in place now working very well? I would say that very clearly it's not.

[weswood]

Surely it would be better to legalise (under tight regulation) some of the currently illegal drugs, tax the hell out of them, treat the inevitable addiction problems as a health issue rather than a criminal issue, and use some of the resulting massive revenue stream to help enforce the system and greatly improve accessibility to the healthcare system?

I mean, that might seem like crazy lefty talk, but is the system in place now working very well? I would say that very clearly it's not.

I think most of the right agrees with you. I consider myself conservatived and listen to conservative talk radio daily and most of the hosts and callers I hear agree.

[Brother in Arms]

Targan

I think American's are in Denial about the drug trade, sex trade,slave trade. All of these things work together to support each other and create a very powerful group of bad guys just to the south of us. It's like the Pancho villa days at this point! But almost no one says anything.

They will of course legalize marijuana nation wide soon. But other "hard drugs" probably not any time soon. Big Pharmaceuticals are all but legal in this country with bogus prescriptions for almost anything. What they hate to do though is treat drug addiction like a disease then people would actually get better.

It's better financially to treat it like a crime that way they can waste (steal) billions in tax payers dollars. In paying for increases in law enforcement (paramilitaries) And to pay for arming them (with military weapons) and creating prisons (money laundering factories/ criminal training centers) It will take a really long time and a lot more people being addicted to drugs for them to actually realize that they are losing control on the country. Because believe it or not someone benefits from all of this crime. And that is the government.

I don't think they care about the health care system they just care about money and the more people who are drug dependent, the better. More money legal and illegal the government can steal from all of us in one way or another. treating addicts will likely become a boondoggle they can make money off from soon enough.

Also the more crime ect. the more excuses they have. They can "prove" it to us how unstable we are as a nation and how unsafe it is!!! So they can limit(steal)our rights.

Brother in Arms

[Targan]

Also the more crime ect. the more excuses they have. They can "prove" it to us how unstable we are as a nation and how unsafe it is!!! So they can limit(steal)our rights.

And here was me thinking it is a cultural issue. You're convinced it's a giant conspiracy?

Edit: In case the tone is coming across wrong, I'm not ridiculing what you're saying, I'm genuinely interested. I'm a long way away and can only really speak to how things are here. I wouldn't be surprised to see New Zealand independently relaxing its laws regarding cannabis, but that won't happen in Australia under the current government, and perhaps not under any Australian government unless the US does so first. The reason that Australia tightened up on drug laws in the 1960s was mostly due to pressure from the US.

[Brother in Arms]

Targan
I'm not sure if I think it's a giant conspiracy. I think its a giant set of circumstances that people in power can benefit from. Not sure it was set up to be a conspiracy originally. But I think at some point in 1970-1980's the people in power might have realized that drugs were way to prevalent to really effectively "stop" so might as well profit from them. And now years and years of this sort of thing has been going on. And the system depends on it for it's existence.

If the government really wanted to stop the influx of illegal drugs, and individuals into this country they could. It's not like they don't have a large number of active soldiers and even former soldiers they could easily muster to patrol the border if they wanted. And that's just doing it the old fashioned way.

America needs its drugs (and illegal aliens)to survive day to day. It's a lot easier to keep huge country (made up of 50 separate mini countries) in line if half the people who live there are under the influence of mind altering drugs. I think the powers that be have come to appreciate what they can do for themselves (like line there own pockets) if they have a bunch of willing dependents. And not have to appease angry constituents.

Just seems way to easy to stop the Imported crime but no one does. Seems like it could be a Cabal to me. Perhaps an unintentional one that "they" benefit from and "we" do not.

Brother in Arms