A weapon seized after a drug-war massacre at a Mexican border town last week was purchased in Phoenix, in another sign that southbound gunrunning and the firepower of drug cartels have accelerated in the last few months. It’s a shared problem. Often guns smuggled south are used to smuggle drugs and people north. The resulting violence, and fear that it will spill more onto U.S. soil, has led the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to make curbing gunrunning in the southwest a top priority. And the issue has led to unparalleled international cooperation. “There is a war going on on the border between two cartels. What do they need to fight that war? Guns. Where do they get them? From here,” said William Newell, special agent in charge of the Phoenix division of ATF. Last week, 22 people died near the Sonora mining town of Cananea. Drug smugglers executed four police, fled into the mountains and shot it out with Mexican federal authorities in an ensuing day-long battle. Full Story
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