TTAG tipsters have been sending me links to stories about the growing number of civilian militias forming south of the border. They do so to highlight the fact that Mexicans are fighting back against corruption and cartel carnage by exercising their constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Only Mexico’s “Second Amendment” isn’t like ours. Article 10 was amended in 1971, after anti-government riots engulfed the country. It reads as follows . . .
The inhabitants of the United Mexican States have the right keep to arms in their homes, for security and legitimate defense, with the exception of those prohibited by federal law and those reserved for the exclusive use of the Army, Navy, Air Force and National Guard. Federal law will determine the cases, conditions, requirements, and places in which the carrying of arms will be authorized to the inhabitants.
So, unlike the U.S. Constitution which protects citizens’ natural or human right to armed self-defense against federal (and, post McDonald, state and local) infringement, the Mexican government grants the right to keep and bear arms. Or, of course, not.
Big on the “not.”
Civilian disarmament has enabled monstrous cruelty from the Mexican army, local and state police, and the cartels—players so heavily intertwined that citing them separately is to make a distinction without a difference.
It’s no wonder that brutalized Mexicans caught in the crossfire have taken it upon themselves to tool-up to protect their lives and livelihoods. It’s also no wonder that the government is moving to disarm them.
To wit: this story from excelsior.com.mx [Google translation]:
Tuxtla Gutierrez, February 22. – Civil groups self in Chiapas will be disarmed by the Army General Raul warned David Guillen Altúzar, commander of the military garrison of San Cristobal de las Casas.
In an interview set up roadblocks on citizens in various states, primarily in Guerrero, the general said “(those groups) will have to be disarmed. “The law applies to firearms, as stipulated for all Mexicans. ”
Excelsior reported yesterday that residents of Ayutla, Guerrero, first staged a shootout at a roadblock who installed, which killed a suspect. Since it began operations, the civilian police have killed three people . . .
The Mexican army proceed to disarm civilian groups seeking to defend its territory against crime, said General Raúl David Guillén Altúzar, garrison commander in San Cristobal de las Casas.
“It has to be the political authority which must come to calm down those groups that have chosen to take up arms to defend themselves,” he said.
Thus the Mexican Army “has chosen to mount military checkpoints in order to build confidence among the population, however, detect a group of armed civil law applies firearms and explosives.”
“Building confidence” by disarming law-abiding citizens seeking to protect themselves against criminals and their own government. Sound familiar? If not now . . .