Federal authorities on Wednesday announced the roundup of a dozen alleged members of a San Antonio-based gun trafficking ring.
Robert Topper, the head of ATF operations for San Antonio, said the roundup took place on Tuesday. One alleged suspect was shot and killed, near Loop 410 and Starcrest on the Northeast Side. All the arrests were local, except for one in McAllen.
"Yesterday's operation was the culmination of a year's long investigation into an organization of individuals trafficking stolen firearms, machine guns and machine gun diversion devices within San Antonio and with the intent to traffic firearms to Mexico," Topper said.
Two hundred firearms were also confiscated, including 14 machine guns. Topper would not discuss how the ring members connected with buyers for the stolen guns.
Jaime Esparza, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, said many of the guns trafficked by criminals, like those confiscated on Monday, are stolen from vehicles. He said so far this year, 1,100 guns have been stolen from the vehicles of San Antonio area residents.
"Secure your vehicles. Do not make it easier for a criminal to use your firearm, your handgun to commit further crimes" Esparza said.
Six of the seized guns, including three machine guns, were connected to San Antonio shootings.
When Esparza and Topper were asked if the state's relaxed gun laws are responsible for an epidemic of guns stolen from vehicles, neither directly addressed the question.
But Esparza said 30,000 guns have been stolen from the vehicles of Texans living in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin since 2020. He also confirmed there is no law in Texas to hold a gunowner responsible for the theft of a gun from their vehicle.
He also said many of the stolen firearms can be converted into machine guns with simple conversion kits that are easy to purchase and referred to as "switches" by law enforcement. A semiautomatic gun becomes a fully automatic gun with a single pull of the trigger.
The 12 individuals face up to five to 15 years on a variety of gun charges.
