An Arizona man will spend two years in federal prison for purchasing roughly 80 weapons on behalf of Mexican cartels. Some were smuggled into Mexico, where at least one was used in a murder.
In recent days, U.S District Judge Douglas L. Rayes sentenced 23-year-old Jose Zuniga Aguilera to two years and three months in prison on straw purchasing charges. Zuniga pleaded guilty to the charge of lying on federal gun purchasing documents.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, between September 2020 and June 2021, Zuniga went to 38 gun stores in Arizona and purchased 82 weapons, including rifles and handguns. Zuniga would fill out Form 4473s with wrong addresses and lie about being the actual buyer. Court documents do not specify which cartel Zuniga sold the weapons to, however prosecutors claim the ultimate recipient was a Mexican national. One firearm was later recovered in a murder case and another was seized by Mexican police in a separate incident. The majority of firearms are still unaccounted for.
It is common practice for cartels to recruit people in the U.S. to straw-purchase weapons to get around any laws enforced by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
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