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Friends, family call for the release of ex-Marine jailed in Mexico after trying to declare an antique shotgun
Jon Hammar was en route to Costa Rica for a surfing trip when he cleared the gun with U.S. customs and was told he could do the same in Mexico. Four moths later, he’s still behind bars in a notorious prison and is ‘losing hope.’
Jon Hammar, a former U.S. Marine jailed in northern Mexico, is seen in an undated photograph provided by his family. Hammar was heading to Costa Rica on a surfing expedition when he was arrested for “possession of a deadly weapon” because of the length of the barrel of his shotgun, even though he registered the weapon with U.S. officials before entering Mexico.
An ex-Marine who survived dangerous patrols in Iraq and Afghanistan is now “chained to a bed” in a notorious Mexican prison after a road trip to Costa Rica went terribly wrong, his friends and family say.
A chorus of supporters are calling on the Mexican government to release Jon Hammar, 27, who was jailed in August for carrying an antique shotgun that he believed could be legally registered in Mexico.
Hammar, of Palmetto Bay, Fla., was headed to Costa Rica for a surfing trip to try and recover from post-traumatic stress after four years of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The only time Hammar is not losing his mind is when he’s on the water,” fellow Marine veteran Ian McDonough, who was arrested with Hammar during the August incident but later released by Mexican authorities, told McClatchy newspapers.
Hammar and McDonough had stocked up a used Winnebago with surfboards and camping supplies and had just crossed the border from Brownsville, Texas into Matamoros, Mexico, where they were detained.
Hammar had registered the shotgun, a Sear & Roebuck model that once belonged to his great-grandfather, with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials on the U.S. side of the border.
After being told by U.S. agents the shotgun posed no problem and could be reigstered in Mexico, Hammar and McDonough crossed the border, tried to declare the weapon, and found themselves separated and behind bars.
“The crux of it is the length of the barrel,” his mother, Olivia Hammar, 46, told Reuters. “There’s an old law on the books that says it can’t be under 25 inches…It’s a 2-foot barrel…It’s strictly a technicality.”
“It’s a glorified BB gun,” she said.
Edith McCrotch
December 12th, 2012
So trade him for the U.S. gob’ment agents who said it was ok…only THEN will Holder/Obama care.
IronyCurtain
December 12th, 2012
Moral: There are civilized countries and there are savage animal countries. Stay out of savage animal countries.
Having said that, I’d still send the SEALS in to spring him from jail.
Metprof
December 12th, 2012
Sorry Jon, wrong skin color/sexual orientation.
Stevo
December 12th, 2012
Maybe they could do a prisoner swap for Eric Holder.
Mr. Happy
December 12th, 2012
So my next question is: ‘what was the demanded “fine” from the Mexicans that the family cannot afford to pay?
They really are a disgusting shit-ball of a country.
I know, being in San Diego, I live next door to these savages and their idiocy spills over the border daily.
Corona
December 12th, 2012
John & Ken on KFI have pointed to a whitehouse.com petition toward his release…if you’re willing to give your info to whitehouse.com. I’d love to but…damn. I don’t trust those fuckers as far as NKorea can shoot a missile.
It’s a strange feeling when you’re rooting for the Norks over the current president, ain’t it.
Corona
December 12th, 2012
That should be the new Maksim project. All hail NKorea, our new leader OVER Obama. Show Obama how much of a shithead he is. Full Republican support for Kim Jong Un. Screw Obama! Gangnam!
Unslung Hero
December 13th, 2012
When we had troops in Mexico City in 1847 we should have kept them there and run all of em back to Spain. It is a corrupt third-world country which we should invade as they are greater threat than Iraq ever was.
Nutjob
December 13th, 2012
No need to take a gun to mexico when he could’ve bought one down there legally from Holder.
Nutjob
December 13th, 2012
He should’ve told them at the border, he works for Holder could’ve went freely back and forth with all the weapons he wanted.
Bad Brad
December 13th, 2012
Some of us should go get his ass. They can’t shoot for shit. I’ll meet ya at Mexicalli.
J Frank Parnell
December 13th, 2012
One phone call from any senior level State Dept bureaucrat could get him released. BHO could do it. I would trade 20 million wets for him. He could be exchanged for a cartelista in our custody. Holder could even walk a couple (more) loads of AKs in trade.
Or we could just bomb the living shit out of the criminal cesspool of a failed narco state until he is released. Or until everyone and everthing but him ceases to exist.
simply enraged
December 13th, 2012
Will we ever learn that it’s really very stupid to be nice to savages? In time, that is?
Bad Brad
December 13th, 2012
Been to Sonora a couple times. A Seal team could rescue his ass, and have a vacay down there pretty easy. Got a hunt for a donkey show now days though. Something to do with cruelty to animals.
Edith McCrotch
December 13th, 2012
heh heh…..he said donkey show.
Mary Jane Anklestraps
December 13th, 2012
After living in Central America, I assume, and have heard, Mexico is full of the same corrupt BS. I don’t ever intend to vist. No thanks. I can get harassed and jailed here at home. lol.
Xavier
December 13th, 2012
No need to bother the SEALS. Just tell the mes’cans “if you don’t release Hammar, we will release every mes’can national from our prison system and deliver them to the border.
NOLIKEO
December 13th, 2012
What was the logic in bringing the gun on the trip?? As far as the pResident getting involved, he’s too busy packing his sandals for his 1.4 million or billion $ vacay to Hawaii to celebrate not Christmas, that we are paying for. He’s pretty tired from all the campaigning. Hardest he’s worked in four years. He’s a real weener.
fxdwg
December 13th, 2012
Don’t go to third world shitholes and give them an excuse to arrest you, dumbass.