o'pander - Texas guns, Mexican murders: An interactive map of gun purchases and cartel killings

From: lc Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 Subject: Texas guns, Mexican murders: An interactive map of gun purchases and cartel killings

article source: http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2011/07/texas-guns-mexican-murders-an-interactive-map-of-gun-purchases-and-cartel-killings/

   Texas guns, Mexican murders: An interactive map of gun purchases and cartel killings

This interactive map is based on documents amassed by reporter Dan Freedman for his story Smuggled Guns: the Bigger the Better, which ran May 29 in the Houston Chronicle.

Freedman surveyed 44 gun trafficking cases involving 165 defendants in U.S. jurisdictions along the border. From U.S. court documents, Freedman extracted a list of 1,600 guns by brand name. All were weapons purchased in the Southwest for transit to Mexico and that nation's violent drug cartels. Most of the weapons were either sent to Mexico or intercepted en route.

     The map, prepared by reporter-researcher Will Tucker, breaks down each purchase documented in the court indictments and criminal complaints and, if known, shows where in Mexico the weapons ended up. With the ATF's Operation Fast and Furious now in the headlines,  Texas on the Potomac is pleased to present the survey data in an interactive format that allows readers to view and comment.

View Gun trafficking: track gun purchases and seizures in a larger map

How to use this map:

    To see the type of gun, how many were sold, the defendant's name and even the customer rating of the gun store that made the sale, click on a placemark. For a full list of guns, click "view in a larger map." The list will appear in a left-hand column in the new window.

    Double-click or use the zoom function in the top left to get a closer look at a certain area.

    Each placemark represents a different "straw purchase," in which a gun was sold to a defendant who made a "false and fictitious statement" when they signed ATF paperwork at the time of the sale. Each defendant stated that they were purchasing the gun for themselves, but was discovered to have been making the purchase on behalf of another person. Out of 1600 guns surveyed in court records, this map reflects the top 10 most-purchased brands of guns. Each straw purchase and weapons seizure included on this map was prosecuted, so the information on the map reflects court documentation.

     The placemarks contain a picture of the gun(s) purchased that links to a slideshow with information about the top 10 most-purchased guns in Hearst's survey.

Color key: Placemarkers for weapons purchased in the "straw purchases" are color-coded by brand name.

• Century Arms: turquoise
  
• Beretta: red
  
• Colt: yellow
  
• FN Herstal: green
  
• Bushmaster: blue
  
• Romarm: purple
  
• American Tactical: pink

    Each placemark falls directly on the address of the FFL (Federal Firearm Licensee) gun store where a straw purchase was made. Generally, in the Hearst survey, the "straw purchases" were made with the intent to traffic the weapons to the south of the U.S. border. The orange police icons represent seizures of weapons, and when a weapon can be linked back to a "straw purchase," a red line indicates where the weapon was purchased.

Analyze for yourself

    This interactive makes available a wide range of data, and some sample analysis has been provided below. You can use the interactive to analyze the data for yourself, and then post your observations and any trends you note in a comment. Think of it this way–find something we haven't noticed, and you could pick the topic of the next Texas on the Potomac story about gun trafficking.

Sample Analysis:

• The biggest connection apparent on this interactive to ATF's Fast and Furious operation is a series of purchases made by defendant Uriel Patino at Lone Wolf Trading Company in Glendale, Ariz. Patino purchased 28 FN Herstal Pistols – "mata policias," as the weapons are known in Mexico – between Nov. 27, 2009 and June 18, 2010.
  
• A notable trend is that Houston seems to be a main purchasing location for people intending to traffic guns to Mexico. A majority of guns recovered in Mexico originated in Houston, as visualized by the red lines that converge on the city. Of those purchased in Houston, a strong majority were Bushmaster .223 rifles and FN Herstal Five-Seven pistols.
  
• Generally, the weapons recovered abroad tend to be Bushmasters and FN Herstals, along with several Beretta pistols.
  
• In the same way Houston seems to "specialize" in Bushmasters and FN Herstals, Arizona and the Glendale area seem to specialize in Century Arms, Romarms, and Colts.
  
• FN Herstals seem to travel the farthest. The longest distance between a purchase and recovery was of an FN Herstal pistol purchased in El Paso and recovered in Mexico City—a distance of 963.4 miles.
  
• Generally, larger guns (Century Arms, Romarms) are bought in bulk farther away from the border. Smaller guns (Barettas, Colts) are bought one or two at a time closer to the border. Bushmasters and FN Herstals seem to be purchased a medium distance from the border, and in sets of two or three at a time. A contributing factor to this phenomenon could be a federal gun law that requires firearms dealers to report multiple purchases of handguns by one customer, but doesn't require them to report multiple purchases of "long guns" like the Century Arms and Romarm AK-47 variants.

Posted on blog.chron by  Will Tucker  on  July 9, 2011 
Categories: Border/immigration, Drug wars, Guns, Mexico Tags: ATF, Drug cartels, Drug wars, Fast and Furious, Guns, Mexico, Operation Fast and Furious

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