US-Made .50-Caliber Rounds Empower Mexican Cartels' Firepower
Investigative reporting links Lake City Army Ammunition Plant’s .50-caliber rounds—especially armor-piercing incendiary variants—to civilian markets and, via distributors, to Mexican drug cartels. The ammunition has enabled military-style assaults on police and civilians (e.g., the 2019 Villa Unión attack) and is part of a broader flow of US-made weapons and components that has drawn scrutiny over sales and regulation, despite legal restrictions and multiple seizures by authorities.