News articles - Anybody read Todd Bensman's articles on "gunrunning"

[Xela]

I did a quick search for posts containing info on this but found none.

A couple of his articles found here:
http://www.toddbensman.com/Bensman/Gunrunning_to_Mexico_series.html

Some of it rings like yellow journalism, but somewhere in all of that fog there must be something of worth.

This hits home for me as I was born on the TexMex border.

Regards,

Xela

[Katya Mullethov]

1. Cele Castillo got busted

That is good to know .

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. Good thing for us that the Mexican military doesn't have Predator

drones attacking known suppliers of terrorists across their border.

[GreenStormCloud]

3. Yellow journalism indeed!

Under "Merchants" it comments that the lady bought a 51 acre ranch. The implication is that she is rolling in money from the gun store. The likely reality is that the ranch is mortgaged, and is a working ranch. By working ranch, I meant that it is worked and expected to show a profit. I doubt very seriously that a gun store can finance an idle ranch.

Merchants protected by more laws? Same laws as a Mom & Pop hardware store. If you buy a knife there and stab someone with it, M&P don't go to jail. The Protection Of Lawful Commerce in Arms act does not protect a gun store if they violate a law, it only stops frivolous lawsuits that are filed to make the store incure legal costs.

How can a dealer be aware of what a legal buyers is going to do with the gun? They aren't mind readers. There are more gun stores in the US than there are McDonalds. The straw purchaser only needs to drop into a particular gun store occasionally, and always buy from a different clerk than last time. Don't engage in much converstation, just ask for the type of gun, fill out the forms, pay, and leave. But people like the writer want the store to magically know what the buyer intends.

"Some have found it more profitable to do nothing more than required," Well, excuse me, but that is ALL the law requires. If the speed limit is 60, and I am doing 60, then I am FULLY LEGAL. I don't need to drop down to 45 to make a display of extra legality. If he is doing what the law requires, then he is LEGAL.

Ammunition: Just because something is illegal in Mexico does not mean that we should make it heavily regulated here.

[oneshooter]

4. Most of it is filled with mistakes.

In Mexico the punishment for a gringo who is found with ONE EMPTY 22 rimfire case in his/her vehicle is 10-15 years behind bars. No parole, no early release.

Oneshooter
Livin in Texas

[Euromutt]

5. Starting with the first story

This one: http://www.toddbensman.com/Bensman/Gunrunning1.html

In the first few paragraphs:

The hail of bullets came so fast neither he nor his fellow officers had time to fire a shot.

Even if they had, their old .38 caliber revolvers would have been no match for some of the weapons that the cartel gunmen wielded that day: body armor-penetrating assault rifles and semi-automatic pistols.

It turns out that some of the weapons found where the four policemen were killed, including a Walther G22 assault style rifle and a Beretta M9 semi-automatic handgun, began their 475-mile journey from a cramped private gun store overlooking the Rio Grande in Laredo, Texas.

That's it? The "body armor-penetrating assault rifles and semi-automatic pistols" are a Walther G22 (http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10002&catalogId=13152&langId=-1&productId=58957&tabselected=over&isFirearm=Y&parent_category_rn=43805) and a Beretta M9 (https://www.berettausa.com/e2wProductGroupDetailDropDown.aspx?parentid=4100001492&parentLink=2100000084:3100001364:3100001368:4100001492)? A fucking .22LR plinker with a 10-round magazine and an effective range of 60 meters (at the outside) is a "body armor-piercing assault rifle"?

That's really all I need to read.

His essay on Bosnia was a complete navel-gazing waste of time as well.

[pipoman]

6. A 51 acre "ranch"....in Texas,,,

:rofl: I guess the standard for what constitutes a ranch has declined...I suspect a ranch style house on 51 acres. And a working 51 acre ranch...well, maybe if a person is raising chickens. 51 acres will barely support 4 cattle if the grass is top quality, which I doubt in south Texas. Yes, 51 acres just outside of Dallas or Houston may be a sign of wealth..most of Texas 51 acres would be no different than owning a reasonably nice home.

[GreenStormCloud]

7. I was raised on a 640 acre ranch in Karnes County, TX.

51 acres may be small, but it can still make a profit. Depends upon what one does with it. I just don't see a gun store as making that kind of profit to buy that much acreage for a house to sit on. The word "ranch" is from the article. Personally, I wouldn't call that a ranch either, but the article did.

So if you want to laugh at the article, go ahead, as I am laughing at it too.

[pipoman]

8. I was laughing at the article, not you..

There must be many areas of Texas where acreage sells in the 2-3000 per/acre (probably many areas where it sells for less), so if this is the case the acreage may well be in the $100k to 150k area. We don't know what kind of structures are on the property. A mobile home, modular, or old farm house would likely add $50k to $100k. So, again, just example, if the value of the whole property is in the $250k area, the mortgage payment would be around $1800. Using the old standard of 35% for indebtedness, their monthly income would be in the $6k range..for both of them. The little gun store/shooting range I go to is owned by 2 men who are both married and they employ 2 more people full time. The payroll from their little shop has to be quite in excess of $6k monthly. I don't know why anyone would jump through all of the city, county, state and federal hoops, accounting, inventory funding, and the overall PITA of owning a business for less than 6-10k per month...just my $.02..no offense meant in my first post..

[SteveM]

9. You can get acreage in "No Country for Old Men" Tarrell County, TX for $295/ac (nt)