STASH HOUSES: BUT FOR WEAPONS, NOT DRUGS

According to information from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives, Mexican drug cartels are getting large numbers of
weapons from the El Paso area.

Apparently, the weapons are being stored here in stash houses and then
are shipped across the border. ATF officials say this is a change from
what has been the norm, smuggling weapons across the border one at a
time.

As the violence ramps up across the border, more and more weapons are
needed by the warring drug cartels. As ATF Special Agent Robert
Champion said, "Everything probably started in 2004-2005 when the
Sinaloa and the Gulf cartel went to war around the Laredo corridor to
control the trafficking route."

Since then, drug-related violence has become the norm rather than the
exception in many places along the border, mainly Juarez, which is
often called the most violent city in the world. And the demand for
guns gets greater.

In a -- so far -- non-bloody way, these weapons stash houses are one
example of how the drug violence has spilled over the border into El
Paso. Although only two of the stash houses have been found in the
past four months, undoubtedly there are more, and where there are
stash houses, there's the possibility of violence.

Champion said, "It's surprising that we came across this many in so
close an area ... but that just shows the trend." It's a trend that
needs to be stopped.

This also is an example of how elements in this country are helping to
fuel violence south of the border. There have been stepped-up efforts
to interdict weapons moving south, but obviously quite a number are
still slipping through.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation was in El Paso on Wednesday
educating gun dealers and retail personnel about preventing the sale
of weapons to "straw purchasers," people buying guns illegally for
others.

It should be noted that conviction for weapons trafficking can result
in a 10-year prison sentence.

Cutting the weapons flow from the United States into Mexico is a huge
part of finding a solution to the drug-driven violence. No doubt the
feds and local law-enforcement personnel are keeping a special lookout
for possible weapons stash houses. Busting those storehouses can be an
effective way of slowing the gun flow to the south.