By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
Some U.S. Border Patrol agents are being forced to share their rifles while on patrol near Tucson because the agency is inspecting the quality of the M4 carbines, KVOA reports.
“There’s a lot of agents that are pretty upset over it,” said Art del Cueto, president of the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector union. “We know it’s a dangerous job. We know what we signed on for but we want to have as much of the equipment as we need to perform the job.”
M4 carbines are used by Border Patrol agents and the U.S. military and have been common for the agency’s tactical unit, BORTAC.
Without their own weapons, some agents can’t personalize the settings on their rifles.
“The problem is they are now pool guns so what happens is instead of having their individual ones they have sighted in they’re having to use a pool weapon that you don’t know who used it before you,” del Cueto said.
Customs and Border Protection released a statement to the News 4 Tucson Investigators last week, stating: “CBP’s Offices of Border Patrol and Training and Development are jointly inspecting the serviceability of M4 carbines throughout Border Patrol Sectors nationwide. Some of (the) inspected M4 carbines were deemed unserviceable and removed from inventory to alleviate safety concerns. Inspections will continue to ensure the unserviceable M4 carbines are repaired or replaced for reintroduction into the field. No further information is available at this time.”
