Chasing Guns and Drugs Near Mexican Border
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: There is a disturbing new report out now on the deadly drug war in Mexico. It says that a large number of weapons taken from the cartels came from the United States. How large a number? Try 70 percent. This is what we're talking about, take a look here. Yes, you see all the rifles? At least two-thirds probably came from the U.S. It's been a bone of contention in talks between the U.S. and Mexico on stopping the flow of illegal drugs going north. The guns come from legitimate sales, smugglers running guns into Mexico and even from the military. The Mexican military is supplied in part by the U.S. So when a soldier defects to the cartels, well, he takes his American-made taxpayer funded weapon with him. And what's the effect of the guns in Mexico? Death. Drug violence killed more than 15,000 people just last year, and nearly 35,000 over the past few years. Stopping the flow of guns is a rough game for ATF agents near the border. Our Ed Lavandera road along on one of their patrols last year to see the challenges they're facing to stop the guns, the drugs and the Mexican cartels.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The number of firearms that somebody's purchased.</s>ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're driving the streets of Houston with an agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, ATF. We can't tell you who he is because he's in the midst of the biggest case he's ever worked, battling lethal Mexican drug cartels on American streets.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We started seeing them popping up in Mexico, and then further down into Guatemala is where it really opened our eyes, and we're like, OK, we're on to something that's pretty big here.</s>ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What they found was a trail from Houston to Guatemala littered with almost 340 guns purchased by so-called straw buyers, 23 Houston area residents, all of them with squeaky clean records, and legally allowed to buy guns. Investigators say almost a hundred of those guns have since turned up at crime scenes south of the border in the hands of the drug cartels.</s>DEWEY WEBB, ATF, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: They're fighting each other for turf in Mexico and, unfortunately, many law enforcement and civilians are being killed in that fight.</s>LAVANDERA: The man in this undercover photo shared exclusively with CNN is John Philip Hernandez (ph). Investigators say he was at the center of the elaborate straw purchasing scheme.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He doesn't stand out in a crowd, a regular guy in his 20s.</s>LAVANDERA: According to ATF investigators, Hernandez recruited a crew of 23 people to purchase firearms for the drug cartels at gun shops across Houston. (on camera): Court documents show Hernandez bought six weapons and ammunition at this gun shop. One of those weapons was later connected to the kidnapping and murder of a Mexican businessman. (voice-over): Hernandez also admitted to buying weapons used in the infamous 2007 Acapulco massacre where seven people, including four police officers, were slaughtered by a dozen armed drug traffickers.</s>WEBB: It has very long range capabilities.</s>LAVANDERA: ATF special agent in charge Dewey Webb showed us some of the group's favorite hardware.</s>WEBB: There's probably over a dozen different versions of each of these weapons on the market today.</s>LAVANDERA (on camera): According to court documents, Hernandez purchased four weapons here at this shop. We spoke with the owner. He didn't want to go on camera, and he told us a few weeks after that, Hernandez returned, flashing $20,000 in cash and ready to buy 20 more weapons. The owner says he rejected the sale. (voice-over): Investigators say the cartels paid Hernandez $100 to $200 each time they bought a firearm.</s>WEBB: People that are buying drugs in the United States have just as much blood on their hands as the people pulling the trigger in Mexico.</s>LAVANDERA: John Phillip Hernandez (ph) is now serving an eight- year prison sentence after pleading guilty. But this ATF agent says as one ring is broken up, new rings can quickly emerge on Houston streets on the gun trail from America to Mexico. (on camera): ATF investigators also tell us that they didn't realize how big this group was until they sat down one day and compared notes. And that's when different investigating teams who had been looking into different members of this group realized that this group was all working together.</s>RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: And that was CNN's Ed Lavandera reporting for us. As you saw, it is a growing problem, and some senators say it must be addressed right now. CNN Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve joins me now from Washington. Jeanne, 70 percent seems like a very big number. So how many guns though are we really talking about here?</s>JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're talking about a pretty large number, in fact. This report, another one -- this one from Congress -- substantiating claims that, in fact, guns from the U.S. are fueling the Mexican drug wars. Not every weapon recovered in Mexico is traced, but according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, in 2009 and 2010, of the 29,284 firearms that were traced, 20,504, or, as you say, 70 percent, were sourced in the United States. The report also says that most of the firearms traced to the original owner in the U.S. came from three states: Texas, California and Arizona. The three Democratic senators who released the report are urging Congress to do a couple of things. One, reinstate the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004, and require background checks for all firearm purchases, including those at gun shows. As you know, Randy, those are both very controversial steps. They've been fought hard by the gun lobby, and they have failed before. Back to you.</s>KAYE: So, I would imagine though, Jeanne, that the U.S. has already been taking steps to try to stop the flow of guns to Mexico. So is that just not working and now they're going to try this?</s>MESERVE: Well, not as effectively as people will like. The ATF has spearheaded something called Project Gunrunner, which attempts to intercepts weapons and ammunition headed for the Southwest border. It has had some success, but it's also been criticized for failing to target high level traffickers. And the ATF is under fire for allegations that it let gun smugglers purchase hundreds of weapons so they could be traced. Senator Charles Grassley says ATF then lost track of hundreds of them. There is a congressional hearing on that matter scheduled for tomorrow -- Randi.</s>KAYE: All right. Jeanne Meserve. Thank you very much, Jeanne, for the update. And now to the Caribbean, where President Obama is making a rare presidential visit to Puerto Rico right now, speaking there with leaders and citizens about jobs and their status as a U.S. possession. He is the first president to make an official stop there in 50 years. President Ford was actually the last president to visit Puerto Rico while in office, but he was there for an international economic conference, not to meet with Puerto Rico's leaders. As you know, Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, but they can't vote in presidential elections. They also don't pay any federal income tax. But their citizens can serve in the U.S. military. And that's a fact the president highlighted during his first stop there. It's also our "Sound Effect."</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For decades, Puerto Ricans like Juan and Ramon have put themselves in harm's way for a simple reason. They want to protect the country that they love. They're willingness to serve, they're willingness to sacrifice is as American as apple pie, or as arroz con gandules.</s>KAYE: Yes, he had to practice that one just a little bit, I think. We'll have much more on Puerto Rico and the statehood debate later on in our show. Seven Republican contenders battled it out last night during the first big GOP primary debate in New Hampshire. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann delivered the first surprise of the debate, announcing on stage that she had officially filed the paperwork for a presidential run. The Republican candidates squared off on a broad range of issues from the debt ceiling to abortion to foreign policy. Front-runner Mitt Romney leads most of the candidates by double digits in most polls. But surprisingly, he was not the target last night. In the end, the attacks went straight to the White House.</s>REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: President Obama is a one-term president.</s>TIM PAWLENTY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This president is a declinist. He views America as one of equals around the world.</s>MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Any one of the people on this stage would be a better president than President Obama.</s>KAYE: On the winners and losers of the debate, CNN political analysts agree Romney and Gingrich gave strong performances, and Michele Bachmann was the biggest surprise of the night. He was not at the debate last night, but you can add Jon Huntsman to the roster list of GOP presidential hopefuls. A Republican source telling CNN the former ambassador to China will formally announce his bid for the White House next Tuesday in New Jersey, with the Statue of Liberty as his backdrop. Harold Camping, the minister who inaccurately predicted the end of the world last month, has suffered a stroke. An employee of the preacher says Camping had a mild stroke last Thursday and was recovering at a California hospital. For months, Camping predicted Christ would return to Earth on May 21st for the rapture. But when that day came and went, Camping said during his radio ministry that he had miscalculated and that the world would actually end October 21st. The Casey Anthony trial, now back under way. Right now you're looking at live pictures. That is Casey Anthony's mother on the stand there testifying. They had the morning off, but now it is back under way, as we just said. We take you inside the science behind the prosecution's case right after this very quick break.