Faced With Violence, 100 Guerrero, Mexico Business Owners Seek Permission to Bear Arms

Republished with permission from borderlandbeat.com:

The Confederación Patronal de la República Mexicana (COPARMEX) (Employers Confederation of the Mexican Republic), Chilpancingo delegation, said that at least 100 business owners have requested permission to bear arms at the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA). They made the request in response to the serious problem of violence facing the state of Guerrero, where five criminal groups threaten the safety of the people.

The president of COPARMEX in Chilpancingo, Adrián Alarcón Ríos, said that of the hundred requests, at least “half” have already been authorized and the business owners will have permission to bear arms for the protection of their physical integrity and of the establishments where they work.

Alarcón Ríos said that there are at least twice as many people “who are seeking to acquire a weapon illegally on the black market.”

In late January, during a meeting with the Secretary General of Government of the State of Guerrero, Florencio Salazar Adame, the president of COPARMEX explained that 35 workers from seven businesses in Chilpancingo had already had permits to bear arms within the framework of the law, faced with the problem of insecurity that the three levels of government have failed to resolve.

Faced with the problem of insecurity that persists in Chilpancingo, where just last Saturday, four executions occurred in different parts of the city, Alarcón Ríos referred to the local press that the request of union members to carry weapons “has increased gradually”, based on individual responsibility and legal requirements of the Federal Law on Firearms and Explosives of the SEDENA.

When asked about the increase in applications, he said that there are about 100 business owners who maintain a requirement process before the SEDENA, although he added that there are people “that they do the process on their own account, as there are those who dare to bring the gun into their own vehicles or near their belongings with the danger that this represents.”

He reiterated that of the 100 applications, at least “half” already have a permit and have been “generously” supported by the president of the private security company Jobamex, Joaquín Badillo Escamilla,  faced with training in case of any type of incident.

The leader explained that pressure continues from some members to form a security and justice committee with the National Security Council and the organization system S.O.S. Mexico, which combats crime and impunity, as they call for detonating the local economy.

He argued that faced with the violent events in Chilpancingo, where based on a count by the newspaper El Sur, there have been 102 executions by organized crime so far this year, business owners live in anxiety “because of organized crime, common crime, and a third front that could be the police by being accomplices of criminals or be in collusion with them.”

He stressed that there is no “will” of the three levels of government to counter violence, and therefore there are “twice as many people” that with their own ways, “seek ways to acquire a weapon.”The Chilpancingo COPARMEX noted that crime has managed to get little results from the small amount of police presence that exists in Chilpancingo. 

The employers’ leader said that the problem is being paid to forces that “are neither trained or have the slightest intention of safeguarding public safety,” he said. Adrián Alarcón also spoke of business owners who have had to leave Guerrero because of the insecurity in the state.