Boston Man Charged With Smuggling Guns in Air Conditioner

Through my years, I've seen some interesting ways in which some people try to smuggle guns. Many of these are caught on airplanes, where even TSA is going to notice someone trying to fly with raw poultry or with jars of peanut butter.

They might not be our best and brightest, but few are dumb enough not to think that's a little suspicious.

But most guns aren't smuggled anywhere that way. Flying them is tricky. You might get away with it or you might not, but the risk is high. It's usually easier to put them on a ship. Ports don't have the same kind of security, particularly ports handling cargo.

And one Boston man figured the best way to move "heaters" is in something meant to keep you cool. (I regret nothing)

Alexis Lara Herrera, from Boston, appeared in court on Friday and pleaded not guilty after being arrested in connection with the discovery of four guns and 500 rounds of ammunition inside an air conditioner entering the Dominican Republic, prosecutors say.

...

In March 2023, local law enforcement in the Port of Haina, near Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, examined international freight in the port, according to the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney General's press office. They found Glock firearms and ammunition inside an AC unit that was part of a shipping container of household goods. Authorities say it was discovered to have originally come from Boston, having traveled through Brooklyn, New York.

The firearms are alleged to have been bought from federally licensed firearms dealers. Prosecutors say that evidence against Herrera was gathered from his phone.

If Herrera is found guilty, he faces penalties up to and including up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a maximum fine of $250,000.

Since he's a 26-year-old guy smuggling guns in AC units (allegedly), I'm going to guess he doesn't have $250,000. 

That's just a hunch.

Of course, we should remember that Massachusetts has extensive gun control measures meant to prevent guns from ending up in the wrong hands. One has to believe that criminals in the Dominican Republic have to be considered "the wrong hands" by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, right? And yet, this guy allegedly purchased a number of Glock handguns somehow, either in person or through straw purchases, then put them in an AC unit, and tried to send them into the Dominican Republic.

I'm going to take a bit of a reach and say that apparently, the gun laws in Massachusetts aren't doing jack squat.

Not that anyone who reads us here will be shocked by that. Not in the least.

However, many people think we need laws just like those that failed here, in part to stop the supposed flood of guns into other countries.

Let's remember that this one was caught in that other country. Nothing American laws did prevented it, despite the plethora of them on the books in Massachusetts.

Once again, we see that the laws don't do what they're claimed to do, and someone will figure that this is just another reason why we need still more of what didn't work in the first place. I