re: Question about Marine being held in Mexico

quote:

---

To be fair, many people would consider driving with 3 guns and 400 rounds of ammunition "armed to a tee."

Most people don't drive around with weaponry like that.

---

This may be true but what is your point?

What type of weapons were they? Haven't seen it reported.

quote:

---

To be fair, many people would consider driving with 3 guns and 400 rounds of ammunition "armed to a tee."

---

He was in the process of moving.

And what if he was going to the range?

12 guage shotgun, MR (I think), and a 1911.

I may not be exactly right on all though. It's in the video that I linked earlier. All were legally owned and registered.

Yes, no matter what you are doing. And I am not saying that it is a bad thing per se, just that it is a lot of weaponry. Crossing a border with guns and ammo like that I am sure makes BP raise an eyebrow.

quote:

---

12 guage shotgun, MR (I think), and a 1911.

---

Thanks. That 1911 Colt has always been one of my favorites, though I wouldn't want to have one illegally in my possession in Mexico.

absolutely

quote:

---

Hypothetically, would the same scenario transpire if he had this mistake take place going into Canada? The arrest maybe, the physical abuse ... no way.

---

Agreed, but that is because Canada is a civilized country

I don't know Canada's gun laws to know if he'd be arrested.

quote:

---

Crossing a border with guns and ammo like that I am sure makes BP raise an eyebrow.

---

It definitely does.

A friend of mine was crossing into Texas with several hundred spent brass casings in his trunk (does a lot of reloading). The BP had a field day taking apart his vehicle. Not finding anything more, they finally asked him, "sir, are you a hunter or do you just like to do a lot of target shooting?" He replied, "both", and they just grinned and sent him on his way. However, they did suggest he not make the same mistake again, unless he likes the delay. And that was over 30 years ago.

After reading through this thread, I just wanted to mention a few things that have not been made clear, hopefully, to at least lessen the concerns about the guy's current health and danger level.

All of the above-described mistreatment took place in his first month in captivity when he was held at a notoriously dangerous jail in Tijuana. Fortunately, the past two months he has been held at a much safer and stable facility in Tecate, where he has been visited by several Americans, including at least two congressmen, who have been photographed with him and who said he "looked good".

I am posting this simply because several of the posts in this thread used the word "is" instead of "was" when describing the terrible things that were alleged to have been done to him at the Tijuana hellhole. I have followed the story continuously, via numerous web sources, and the thread simply doesn't make clear that, despite the fact we all believe he should be freed posthaste, and hope that he will be as soon as possible, the abuse is no longer taking place.

It's well-documented that he tried to escape at one point, and that he cut himself badly in an apparent suicide attempt as well, both in the early weeks of his captivity, while at the Tijuana prison facility. It's unclear how much of the abuse took place before his escape attempt and suicide attempt and how much took place afterwards. Restraints on someone who has attempted either are commonplace, even in U.S. prisons, to avoid additional attempts.

Certainly, none of that could begin to excuse his being placed into general population and the physical beatings he apparently received from fellow prisoners. That was indefensible and someone down there should be held accountable in a substantial manner.

There's also the problem of his original lawyer telling the court that he had never been in Mexico, when in fact he had gone there on several occasions. The judge may have been punishing him for the dishonesty of his first lawyer, who has since been fired, as was his second lawyer.

He registered at the Hotel Nelson in downtown Tijuana on the day he was arrested, having gone into Mexico on foot earlier in the day. He reportedly did not feel safe in the $24 -a-night hotel and that's why he left to return to the U.S.
He had a PTSD-related VA appointment at the La Jolla VA treatment facility on the morning of the 31st, so he apparently went directly, or almost directly, from the VA facility to Tijuana.

I have to wonder if he disclosed to the doctors he met with that morning that he had three loaded weapons in the cab of his vehicle. That's exactly the kind of thing any doctor would advise against when dealing with someone dwith PTSD, especially someone relatively new to the state of mind, who had not yet established that he could cope successfully with PTSD's inevitable "down days" .

Just adding this to bring more information, but definitely agree that , absent previously undisclosed negative information being set forth in court next week, there should be some way the U.S. govt. can successfully negotiate his immediate release. The State Dept. has several times addressed his situation, by the way, in its daily press briefings, maintaining a low-key "we're working on it" approach.

Putting the spotlight on his plight has certainly helped in terms of getting him better treatment and better conditions; the flip side of that, however, may be that the courts in Mexico may be digging in their heels to make a point that the U.S. won't sway them in their decisions.

In the absence of new and incriminating information, I see him being set free in the next 30-45 days, and the administration being given credit for his release, maintaining they were working for it all along "behind the scenes" and maybe even implying that the efforts by Van Susteren and O'Reilly on Fox actually hampered the process by putting the Mexican court system, and by proxy its government, on the defensive.