According to Sun Media Wire Services, at least 12 masked gunmen blasted the hell out of a restaurant, killing 8, then took off. No arrests. The BBC says that this was not so out of the norm, as 25 people total were killed in the same night. This, in one city, complements the nation’s “official” kidnapping rate of 3-4 people a day. This is estimated to be about 7 times lower than the actual rates, since most go unreported.
In Mumbai, somewhere around 200 people died over about 48 hours? Horrific, yes. Especially since the attacks, though well planned, were carried out with the simplest of weapons, small arms and hand grenades. If this can be accomplished so easily with these weapons, why do we overlook weapon seizures in Mexico, less than a day’s drive from our relatively undefended border, that make this look like small potatoes?
According to Stratfor.com, authorities made the largest weapons seizure in Mexican history with a November 6, 2008 raid, and found 540 assault rifles, more than 500,000 rounds of ammunition, 14 cartridges of dynamite, 98 fragmentation grenades, 67 bullet-proof vests, seven Barrett .50-caliber sniper rifles and a LAW rocket.
LAW Rocket. An anti-tank weapon.
.50 Caliber Barrett
The Barret sniper rifle can decommission a truck with one round to the engine block. From over a mile and a half away. Who worries about the border patrol when you can stop anything they throw at you from that far away? Not to mention the fact that they had a rocket launcher. And it is certainly not the first seized this year, in fact varying statistics say that upwards of 16 rocket launchers have been seized. Just seized. How many more are floating around, miles from our border?
My point? Mumbai was a horrible tragedy, but every 48 hours at least as many people are killed in drug violence in Mexico. With ridiculously advanced weapons. Why is it frontpage news when 10 gunmen kill westerners in Mumbai, but no one pays a second thought to masked men using almost the exact same tactics miles from out border?
Images courtesy of wikipedia.
