A Chicagoland man stands accused today of sending dozens of guns to his relatives in Mexico, even after the Illinois State Police revoked his Firearm Owner's Identification Card.
Federal authorities allege that 74-year-old Camerino Campusano ignored the revocation and sent his cousin on a bus with 11 firearms.
Campusano is charged with exporting at least 30 guns to Mexico, which he claims were delivered to his relatives to ensure their personal safety.
Campusano often personally helped transport the weapons, which were purchased from gun stores in the metro area. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, he has crossed the border 19 times since 2022:
According to a bankruptcy filing in 2017, Campusano said he was unemployed but got monthly income from a rental property in Aurora. He doesn't appear to have a criminal record except for some traffic citations.
On July 16, a compliance manager for GAT Guns in East Dundee notified an agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that Campusano was trying to buy seven guns of the same make, model and caliber, which prompted the ATF to investigate.
The compliance manager was concerned Campusano might be a “straw purchaser,” someone who's legally allowed to buy guns and provides them to criminals and other people who are disqualified from owning them, according to an affidavit an ATF agent filed in the case.
The ATF agent learned that Campusano had bought 43 guns from licensed firearm dealers between 2015 and 2024 and was making arrangements to buy another 11. Most of the weapons he bought were from JR Shooting Sports in Aurora and GAT Guns.
When questioned by ATF agents, Campusano attempted to explain his actions, stating, “They were forming a group because of the bad people that are over there and … they would be defending themselves.”
According to the ATF, between 70% to 90% of firearms recovered at crime scenes in Mexico and submitted for tracing over the past decade have been found to originate from the United States. In a report covering 2014 to 2018, the ATF stated that around 70% of the 106,000 firearms recovered in Mexico and submitted for tracing originated in the U.S.
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Oh the horror. Allowing people to defend themselves. That will never do.