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Mexico had a flourishing, legal, gun culture until 1972. That’s when the Mexican government made private, legal, ownership of guns extremely difficult and expensive.  The change in law was meant to disarm the political opposition and keep the existing power structure in place. The power structure has remained in place, but it has not flourished.

Much of Mexico is contested ground, with narco-cartels fighting for territory against each other and, in some but not all cases, the Mexican police and military. Private citizens are caught in the crossfire, abused by both sides, and denied the legal ability to arm themselves.

There are plenty of firearms in Mexico. Most of them are illegal. It degrades what respect for law there is by Mexican citizens. A Mexican senator wants to change that. From chron.com:

On October 6, 2016, Mexican Senator Jorge Luis Preciado of the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) published a policy recommendation in the Senate Gazette to amend Article 10 of the Mexican Constitution to emulate the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, allowing Mexico citizens to carry handguns for personal protection in their homes, vehicles and businesses.

Preciado argues that the natural right to possess arms as a means of self-defense is affirmed in the Second Amendment, which states that “a well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

Preciado stated that Mexicans, too, “have the right to legitimate self-defense, and if a criminal enters my house or my business, he should at least know that on the other side there could be someone that has a weapon with which to respond … because we have organized groups that are completely armed and we have a society that is in a complete state of defenselessness.”

The U.S. provides tens of thousands of firearms to the Mexican police and military — many of which “seep” to the cartels. Quite a few guns flow from the United States to Mexico illegally. Most of them are smuggled in one by one by Jose the gardener to his uncle Juan, who wants that .22 rimfire rifle and some shells for his granja (farm).

When you look at the autodefensa (self defense) groups, the modern equivalents of the militias spoken of in the Second Amendment, they are mostly armed with .22 rimfire rifles and inexpensive shotguns.

Mexico has tried the strict gun control policies being promoted by the “progressives” in the United States. They have failed miserably.

Senator Jorge Luis Preciado offers a different option, one that allows Mexican citizens to hold their heads high, and fight for their country and their communities. Armed citizens can defend themselves, demand justice, and hold government accountable. Otherwise, not.

©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included. Link to Gun Watch

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54 COMMENTS

  1. This is something the NRA and other rights groups should be putting money on. Politicians are cheaper in Mexico. Maybe we should look to the south as a possible victory.

    • I have to disagree, on the basis that people don’t appreciate rights they didn’t fight for.

      It hasn’t worked out so well when we’ve tried to hand out freedom in the world.

      • “It hasn’t worked out so well when we’ve tried to hand out freedom in the world.”

        That is the sad truth.

        People only seem to truly value what can cost them most dearly…

        • That is true. And it hasn’t cost most of America anything for so long that we don’t value it either.

          We think we do when we barge in, blow stuff up, shoot a bunch of people, and say “Now do it this way.” That’s not freedom, it’s just one more thing these poor saps are being forced to do by a bunch of people with money and guns. And we blame them when “freedom” doesn’t happen.

      • Yea. If the people of Mexico don’t like the laws and lack

        of freedom where they are, they should just move.

        Um, wait….

        • I didn’t say they should move. The unstated meaning in what I said is actually the opposite. They need to stand and fight.

          It is their only chance at real, lasting freedom.

          A man’s rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.

          Mexico has failed its people in the first two.

        • They should move, and they’re welcome here. As long as they go through the legal process like everyone else!

      • Maybe that’s why so many Americans don’t appreciate their rights — after all, we accepted help from the French in the Revolution.
        /sarc

        Helping them doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be fighting. We helped the Brits by sending them firearms in WWII, and I doubt anyone would suggest they weren’t fighting.

        When all the domestic powers are against you, it only makes sense to ask some outside powers for support. And when you’re that outside power, it is only sensible to offer help to the oppressed.

    • I have to disagree with you here.

      The NRA is an American-based civil rights organization. The N stands for National, not North-American, not global. I’d much rather their efforts go towards what needs to be done here at home first.

  2. Its not enough to just have a second amendment. The Judicial system and the culture that supports it must also recognise the primacy of armed self-defence, which is rooted in property rights begining with the owneship of the self. Without this foundational understanding, The 2nd is just a slogan.

  3. They are not going to do anything. I always enjoy when people in the U.S. talk about 3rd world countries as if they operate under the same norms. For instance, when the news hacks quote “authorities”. The :authorities in Mexico are simply the ones collecting the most bribes and oppressing the most people. Now we may be heading down that path here, but we would have a long way to go.

      • Many, if not most of them are. But give the Clinton machine a few more years to set its hooks into the government, and they’ll fix that.

      • Of course not. No authorities ever were, are, nor will be.

        But here, they have more money to spend on marketing, media control and obfuscation.

    • Have you been keeping up with current events!? Seems like a short hop, skip and a jump to me. …and Shrillery is Skippy.

    • Exactly.

      I’ve pointed out time and again how unique the American republic was, and how it was a consequence of being set up and inhabited by northern European Protestants.

      Mexico wasn’t. It won’t get a real RKBA anytime soon, and they won’t enjoy any other rights that were set up in our Bill of Rights – including real property rights, a right against arbitrary search and seizure, etc. There is no real rule of law in central or south America – it always comes down to a bifurcated system of immunity for the very wealthy & connected, and crap odds for the poorer people.

  4. “Armed citizens can defend themselves, demand justice, and hold government accountable. Otherwise, not.”

    True, that’s why I don’t think this has a chance. Governments (esp. corrupt ones) don’t want ordinary citizens having any power at all. Anyway, we’ll probably lose our 2A rights after November too.

      • Hillary will effectively gut them. All she has to do is shut down gun and ammo makers…easy peasy these days. There are no longer any checks on executive power and she may wind up with a fully Democrat congress.

        • She’s not going to flip the House, it ain’t gonna happen. She can’t really do anything without Congress, even Obama found that out.

        • Phase One: Hillary wins presidency, Republicans lose the Senate, House majority severely compromised. The effect of Trump’s failure as well as recent years of Republican Party ineffectiveness in the face of an intransigent President/Senate causes a schism between two or more factions, the result being a Republican House majority that does not function as one, but instead now routinely caucuses with Democrats (Republican committees passing Democrat bills)
          Phase Two: The Democrat Senate eagerly invokes the ‘nuclear option’ to approve Hillary’s SCOTUS appointments, and likely dismantles the filibuster once and for all when a couple guys like Lee and Cruz make a final stand (not necessarily against this issue). All active investigations into Clinton/Clinton Foundation/State Dept corruption are abandoned or retooled into coverup operations. Justice Dept begins actively persecuting Republican legislators who had been spearheading these efforts.
          Phase Three: As with Miller back in the thirties, the Justice Dept will fast-track a case involving RKBA (probably AWB or CCW bans) and force a verdict in their favor by hook or by crook (see Dred Scott for an example where the president directly influenced a critical SCOTUS verdict). Large scale peaceful demonstrations erupt in southern cities in response. Media coordinates with the administration to paint these demonstrations as reactions to Black Lives Matter.
          Phase Four: Either real or entirely fabricated incidents against BLM will be used as a pretext (remember, this is BLM I’m talking about, which has thrived almost almost its entire existence on fabricated tales of injustice) to take legislative action against gun rights agitators. Drum beat for a suite of federal gun control measures begins, probably involving open carry, may-issue, assault weapons, registration, and magazines.
          Phase Five: Grey Swan event (so-called because ‘prominent’ shootings latched onto by the media aren’t really all that uncommon) triggers the putsch to actually pass the gun control legislation package, on the back of recently rendered SCOTUS precedent that conveniently underpins its authority

          All this could happen in the space of a year, by the way. Won’t take long to get someone on the court with the Senate in her pocket, lots of RKBA cases hanging out in limbo to be granted cert at any time, lots of angry Trumpers ready to raise a ruckus (but not one damn bit more) in the streets with offensive slogans, lots of nut jobs out there who will pop off a couple times a year and kill some people at random, lots of gun control bills ready to go at a moment’s notice.

          To think we were in the best position in two generations to begin a concerted rollback of all this bullshit not even a year ago, but decided instead to burn our own house down in frustration because the election was still nine months away and a con-man told us we had been patient long enough.

        • “All she has to do is shut down gun and ammo makers”
          And it will probably be called: “operation choke point, volume two”…or perhaps, “Choke point, the hillary edition”.

        • If today’s Podesta hack ends up being true, which my time on 4chan and 8chan suggests it very much is, and even 10% of what anonymous is claiming to have grabbed is true, HRC is TOAST. 0.00% chance of winning.

          At this point I put it at 100% the hacked Podesta since they took over his Twitter account and the screen grabs look real as hell. What they claim they got ranges from fairly mild to extremely wild. Like I said, 10% of their claims are true and HRC is done. No way the MSM can cover it up and she’s totally fucked.

          Much of what their claiming seems to have corroboration in the WikiLeaks Podesta emails…

  5. I don’t know if this will go anywhere but the fact that a major politician South of the border is bringing it up is an encouraging step forward.

    Also, don’t forget, Mexico’s current laws went into effect in ’72. Plenty of people there may well remember the days before things got bad and support a return to the old ways as a means of fighting against the cartels.

  6. Mexico is a cautionary tale of what transpires when only the government and gang bangers can have guns. That take is ignored by the media. They’ve got more important “issues,” like Trump talking about p$$$y.

  7. The Mexican government appears to be an easy mark for our jokes and derision, but I would suggest otherwise. I spent time in Mexico providing (US state department authorized) arms and training to a number of respectable, professional groups that put their lives on the line on a daily basis. They were at risk for no other reason than that they were members of certain government agencies loyal to Mexico. This point was driven home one day when we went to break for lunch and our hosts were to drive us to a favorite eatery. My driver opened the back door to place his loaded carbine against the child seat. Seeing that rifle leaning against his kid’s seat hit me like a punch in the stomach, because that rifle (which they had, loaded 24/7) was not only protecting him and his team but his young family that was at equal risk. How many US cops/soldiers sign up for the job knowing their kid will be a target? Not many.

    Its easy to make generalizations and make fun of the stereotypes, but there are plenty of hard motherfuckers south of the border taking a stand for what is right. I applaud this Senator for recognizing that continuing to do what they have been doing since 1972 is not working and is not going to work in the future, and to make a public stand. That takes major balls, especially in a country where you could wind up missing your head for saying so. Most of us couldn’t even be bothered to vote in the primary to avoid the disaster happening now.

    • I spent a lot of time in Mexico back in the day and had friends and clients there. Mexicans are great people who are consistently betrayed by their so-called government.

      Mexicans have a lot in common with Chicagoans.

      • 200years guys. 200…build that wall. Yeah I like Mexicans too. Got a boatload in my neighborhood and a market/restaurant. So what…

  8. Next thing we’ll see is a Mexico senator talking about building the wall and making the U.S. pay for it, and be happy about it.

    • Mexico is considering building a wall along passable areas of its southern border with Guatemala. According to the Financial Times, the US will be providing $75 million to assist our “friends” south of the border down Mexico way.

      • What’s wrong with Guatemala? It’s the only country in the world a tourist can bring and carry a private handgun. Not to mention a cheap place to retire/build a vacation home. It is probably the next up and coming major destination for retirement dollars once Costa Rica becomes saturated and prices are raised too high for elderly expats.

  9. No such law has any chance of passing; neither the government nor the cartels will allow it. Both want the citizens disarmed and the journalists dead or silenced, Both act to destroy the autodefensas, either by murdering or jailing their members. And that’s the way they like, as the money flows freely from the cartels to the politicians in the form of graft. The elites have control, a nd it will have to wrestled from their cold, dead hands.

  10. >The change in law was meant to disarm the political opposition and keep the existing power structure in place.

    This is the message we should be hammering home all the time. This is always what gun control (and before guns, “sword control” a la Scotland and Japan) is ALWAYS about — keeping people weak, subservient, and dependent on the existing political elite.

  11. Not a chance in hell of this happening. The cartel doesn’t want the people shooting back at them; only their rivals.

    The cartel and government are one in the same when talking about Mexico, by the way.

  12. People in the US ignorant of Mexican history forget that nearly the entire first half of the 20th Century found Mexico in active revolution against the central government by, basically, private citizens forming huge armies. Somehow, in a repressive dictatorial environment, individuals were able to find guns–guns from American-built lever actions and revolvers to European bolt-action rifles, machine guns, and modern cannon. Generally speaking, the civilian ‘militias’ did remarkably well against government troops, during the Revolution of 1910 successfully overthrowing the standing government more than once. During the Cristoforo War of the 1930s, civilians defeated troops in many battles, and although they did not prevail, they were rarely short of weapons, and did force the government to eventually ease up on its Marxist-style brutal repression of religion.
    It’s something we don’t think about, but the casualties of the Mexican Revolution from 1910 through about 1940 are estimated to be higher than those from our Revolution and Civil War combined.
    If the Mexican people can find the courage of their forebears to rise against their government (although elected as is ours, Mexico’s government is also virtually as corrupt as ours as well) and its cartel auxiliaries, they should have no problem getting the guns to do it. If nothing else, the military and police will sell them theirs, or leave them on the battlefield.

  13. Mexicans can own handguns in .38 and below except 9mms and a carry license isn’t impossible to obtain. They can also own shotguns in semi-auto, SxS, O/U, pump, and bolt action as well as any bolt, pump, lever action centerfire or rimfire rifle. Semi-auto rimfire rifles are legal but not any military styled semi-auto in centerfire. There are no gun stores to buy from just one central government run agency that all Mexicans must travel to in order to purchase firearms and it is called Sedana. This agency works with representatives who travel outside Mexico and propose sales of firearms to the agency for commercial and government sales. Knowing how things are done there, I doubt that any 2nd Amendment for Mexico gets passed but for their sake I hope so. Mexicans had great gun ownership before 1969 before the confiscation of everything not allowed mentioned above began. Also, contrary to popular belief, .38 Super is also banned. It seems that it was allowed for a time as 1911 pistols in .38 Super were sold there when .45s were banned (very popular in Mexico since the early 20th Century) but are now considered the same as 9mms.

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