Posted on Oct 30, 2022
Gun used by Mexican cartel to shoot down military helicopter bought in US
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The 0.50-caliber gun used by the Mexican Jalisco cartel to shoot down a Mexican military helicopter in 2015 came from a gun supplier in Portland, Oregon, a joint Mexico-US investigation has found.
On Wednesday, the Louisville Courier Journal reported confirmation of the connection between the incident and Portland, Oregon by federal firearm officials.
The investigation found that Erik Flores Elortegui, a 40-year-old Mexican native and US citizen, was responsible for providing the Jalisco cartel, also known as Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación, or CJNG, with the belt-fed semiautomatic weapon.
On Wednesday, the Louisville Courier Journal reported confirmation of the connection between the incident and Portland, Oregon by federal firearm officials.
The investigation found that Erik Flores Elortegui, a 40-year-old Mexican native and US citizen, was responsible for providing the Jalisco cartel, also known as Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación, or CJNG, with the belt-fed semiautomatic weapon.
Gun used by Mexican cartel to shoot down military helicopter bought in US
Posted from theguardian.com
Mexico
Firearms and Guns
Portland
Posted 2 y ago
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Hold on here now, I've never seen a .50 that was a belt-fed semiautomatic weapon. Sure you can switch it on the butt plate so it can fire semiautomatic, but it's not used that way very much, and if it was used to shoot down a aircraft it sure wouldn't be fired that way.
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MSG Thomas Currie
SPC Gary C. I'm sure there are lots of things you "have never seen" but semi-auto belt-fed copies of the M2 most certainly do exist.
Mostly they are purchased by rich collectors of military arms or vehicles. $16K sounds like a lot of money to spend for a gun to make your WWII jeep or truck look right, but it's a lot cheaper and easier to find rather than spending two-to-three times that much for one of the rare actual M2 machine guns legally available.
Capt Gregory Prickett - -- Not "modified to fire semi-auto only" but built to fire semi-auto only -- the semi-auto M2 guns that are available do use a lot of milsurp or milspec parts but they are not converted machine guns and they are not easy to make into a machine gun.
Although the article quotes Mexican authorities as referring to it as a "machine gun" I question whether that was correct. I doubt anyone in Mexico was interested in the distinction between a machine gun and a semi-auto belt-fed gun that LOOKS LIKE a machine gun. I suppose it is possible that the cartel could have spent the time and technical expertise to rebuild the gun into a machine gun, but in the process they would have replaced the sideplate and that original sideplate is how the ATF was able to trace the gun.
It's a lot easier to just shoot a semi-auto quickly than to convert one into a machine gun.
Mostly they are purchased by rich collectors of military arms or vehicles. $16K sounds like a lot of money to spend for a gun to make your WWII jeep or truck look right, but it's a lot cheaper and easier to find rather than spending two-to-three times that much for one of the rare actual M2 machine guns legally available.
Capt Gregory Prickett - -- Not "modified to fire semi-auto only" but built to fire semi-auto only -- the semi-auto M2 guns that are available do use a lot of milsurp or milspec parts but they are not converted machine guns and they are not easy to make into a machine gun.
Although the article quotes Mexican authorities as referring to it as a "machine gun" I question whether that was correct. I doubt anyone in Mexico was interested in the distinction between a machine gun and a semi-auto belt-fed gun that LOOKS LIKE a machine gun. I suppose it is possible that the cartel could have spent the time and technical expertise to rebuild the gun into a machine gun, but in the process they would have replaced the sideplate and that original sideplate is how the ATF was able to trace the gun.
It's a lot easier to just shoot a semi-auto quickly than to convert one into a machine gun.
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Okay, lets find this guy and charge him with Accessory Before the Fact of Murder. If we can then "rendition" him somewhere as a terrorist. That would be even better!
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CPT (Join to see)
Capt Gregory Prickett - I thought that the Cartels had been designated as Terrorist Organizations?
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MSG Thomas Currie
Capt Gregory Prickett - The US does occasionally charge foreigners for crimes committed outside the US. It doesn't happen often, but when it does there is a good chance that it will be a travesty of anyone's concept of law. Remember Manuel Noriega?
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MSG Thomas Currie
Capt Gregory Prickett -
If you believe his crimes were committed "in the U.S." I have a nice bridge back in my hometown of Brooklyn NY that I can sell you at a very good price.
If you believe his crimes were committed "in the U.S." I have a nice bridge back in my hometown of Brooklyn NY that I can sell you at a very good price.
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MSG Thomas Currie
Capt Gregory Prickett - Yes, I understand that a US court decided that US laws apply everywhere in the world whenever the US wants to. Like many US laws, that decision abrogates all semblance of either logic or justice.
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