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