Texas rolls out gunboats to fight drugs cartels

An idea that is long overdue and one more reason to like Texas. I personally do not need any more reasons to like Texas as I am a native Texan and if I ever move again, West Texas would right at the top.

Gunboats on the Rio Grande? Splendid idea and about that firepower, I think weaponry could be beefed up more. The cartels, and drug runners these days are extremely well armed and I am sure they have the weaponry to attack these gunboats. Their gruesome track record of murder, atrocities are too well known and the violence by these cartels has spilled into OUR country. These boats have been in service for a few months and way to go Texas!

Enough is enough. Texas is to commended for putting these boats on the Rio Grande. The federal government refuses to take on the problem that the border states have and so it is left up to the states.

From Fox News.

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Texas rolls out gunboats to combat violence spilling over river border with Mexico 

By Casey Stegall

Law enforcement officers working along the U.S.-Mexico border are stepping up efforts to respond to what is in effect a war going on south of the border, where drug cartel violence has spun out of control.

In Texas, where the two countries are separated only by the Rio Grande River, stopping the violence from spilling into the United States means taking to the water -- with 34-foot-long gunboats that pack some serious firepower.

The stakes are high. Since 2007, roughly 56,000 people in Mexico have been killed in the escalating drug cartel violence. The U.S. government and local police agencies are working around the clock, 365 days a year to try and stop the flow of drugs, weapons and illegal immigrants into America from our southern neighbor.

Of the nearly 2,000-mile border with Mexico, about 1,200 of it is in Texas. The terrain here is very different compared to California, New Mexico and Arizona -- states with dry land on the border.

The narrow and winding Rio Grande, meanwhile, is a hotbed of activity, since you can literally swim from one side to the other in just a few minutes. Officials say this makes it extremely enticing for smugglers, which is why authorities have to be one step ahead.

It’s why the Texas Department of Public Safety has rolled out the big guns: Four new “shallow water interceptors” are now patrolling the river, and two others will be commissioned soon. Those will be responsible for guarding the intercoastal waterway, where cops are seeing a spike in smuggling activity through the Gulf of Mexico.

These gunboats are outfitted with bullet-proof panels, fully automatic machine guns and 900-horsepower engines. Their ability to cruise through the water at fast speeds is designed to not only serve as an intimidating force on the water, but also to fight back.

Read the complete article here. 

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