Two Mexican nationals and a man from a small coastal town have been slammed by federal prosecutors in Oregon, and a fourth man has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Medford, all on gun charges, perhaps sending two messages, one to criminals and the other to the Democrat-controlled Oregon Legislature.
For lawbreakers, it’s a signal federal law enforcement could be coming for them, and for lawmakers, it is time to pay attention to bad guys and leave the good guys alone. All this is happening while Oregon gun owners continue waiting for the state Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of gun control Measure 114.
According to the Justice Department, a Mexican citizen identified as 37-year-old Vincente Cortes Quiroz was sentenced to 18 months in prison and three years of “supervised release” after being convicted of trafficking in firearms. Quiroz, according to the news release, was a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration status.
The DOJ said Quiroz, over the course of several years going back to 2014, had acquired more than 120 firearms by lying on federal forms that he was a U.S. citizen. When he was arrested, police recovered more than 70 guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition from his residence. It is not clear where the other firearms may have gone.
But here’s one possibility: They ended up in the wrong hands, based on the prosecution of another Mexican National who had been living in this country illegally, and apparently trafficking in firearms. Evidence of that was the discovery of one of his guns in Mexico.
According to a Justice Department news release, Samuel Rodrigo Melo Santos, 27, “purchased 91 firearms for $56,448 between May 2024 and July 2025 and 40,000 rounds of ammunition.” How he got caught might be a combination of official luck and criminal stupidity.
“In July 2025,” according to the DOJ, “Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) investigators, as part of a compliance inspection, began reviewing ATF Form 4473s…of a Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL) in Cave Junction, Oregon…During the inspection, investigators observed repeated sales of the same make and model of firearm by a group of individuals sharing the same address in O’Brien and Medford, Oregon, indicative of firearms trafficking.”
The release further noted, “On ATF Form 4473, defendants wrote ‘Mexico’ for place of birth and checked the box next to the United States for country of citizenship. An immigration query into Melo Santos, and his co-defendants, concluded they have no legal status and are residing unlawfully in the United States.”
This revelation can only add fuel to arguments about illegal aliens and the problem with sanctuary laws, but it also underscores arguments by law-abiding gun owners that criminals don’t obey gun laws. Melo Santos will be sentenced Oct. 9 by U.S. District Court Judge Michael McShane, a Barack Obama appointee. He faces up to 15 years behind bars and a $250,000 fine. After his release, he would also face three years of supervised release. Why not deportation?
Meanwhile, Ciedric Royce Broussard, 42, of the small coastal community of Netarts, south of Tillamook Bay, is on his way to federal prison after being convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. It’s a bit more colorful than just being arrested, however.
Back in February 2023, Tillamook County sheriff’s deputies and Oregon State Police troopers responded to a report that Broussard had threatened someone with a firearm. When lawmen arrived, he refused to come outside of his residence. There was a standoff, with Broussard refusing to come out of a bathroom, and when he finally was taken into custody, police found a gun with a fully-loaded 31-round magazine, and they recovered 77 more rounds of ammunition, which he couldn’t legally possess. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 46 months behind bars and three years of “supervised release.”
Once again, gun control laws in Oregon—pushed by Democrats now running for re-election in the mid-terms—penalized honest citizens but didn’t stop this guy from having a gun.
Likewise, it appears restrictive gun laws didn’t prevent a man identified as Michael Scott Beugli, 32, of Medford from having nine guns, unregistered suppressors, and an unregistered “destructive device.” He’s also a convicted felon, and now he has been indicted on the new gun charges.
An announcement from the office of U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford, appointed by former Attorney General Pam Bondi, says Beugli pleaded not guilty, but he was detained pending trial.
The Justice Department alleged Beugli was throwing guns out of his residence in Medford back in February of this year. A month later, he allegedly sent a threatening message to the witness, and in late March, ATF agents responded to an explosion which blew up a car at the witness’s residence. Beugli was found in a nearby home “with similar devices and explosive materials,” the news release said.
When Beugli appeared in court on Aug. 17, he was reportedly detained pending trial, set to begin later this month. The U.S. Attorney’s office was careful to note, “An indictment is only an accusation of a crime, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.”
That will be up to a jury, but in the meantime, Oregon legislators may be repeatedly reminded of these cases when they return to Salem next year, and more importantly, when they appear at election rallies leading up to the Nov. 3 general election. Beaver State gun owners can put them on the spot with questions about gun laws that don’t work, and continued efforts to penalize law-abiding citizens because of crimes committed by convicted felons and non-citizens.
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
