From The bottom feeders
"TIJUANA, Mexico -- Assassins blasted Ricardo Rosas Alvarado, a member of an elite state police force, with a blizzard of bullets pumped (semi auto, full auto, & pump action are 3 different types of action) out of AK-47 assault rifles.

The high-powered guns used in both incidents on the evening of Sept. 24 undoubtedly came from the United States, say police here, who estimate that 100 percent of drug-related killings are committed with smuggled U.S. weapons."

So since AK-47s are made in Russia, China, & some Eastern Bloc Countries, how are they U.S. Weapons?
Also since no fully automatic (Capable of firing 600 rds a minute), AK47's could have been imported since 1986, how are they getting them, from the US of A?

Wouldn't it be easier for the Cartels to buy straight from say China or N Korea full auto AK's than come up here & pay retail prices for Semi Auto AK's that are not easy to convert to full auto?, then try to smuggle them across the boarder?

It was kind of like the early 90's story of how the Columbia drug lords would buy AR15's here in the US for $750-$1400 each & smuggle them back to Columbia, while at the time M16 Genuine GI full auto, or Burst Fire could be bought in South America for around $100-$300 ea.
Seems after fall of Saigon, the new government didn't have a lot of use for American made firearms, & dumped them on the black market for cash, seem we had given the S. Vietnamese army over 50,000 M16's