I grew up in the South. For us, guns were a part of life. My father, uncles, and grandfathers were all gun owners and enthusiasts. These men taught me the proper use of firearms - both in terms of safety as well as accuracy. An old tale says that in Army and Marine Corps basic training the sergeants would spend much more time instructing Northerners and West Coast recruits during the weapons part of training than the Southerners. The Civil War should be proof enough of the Southerner's propensity for firearms when the vastly outnumbered and undersupplied Confederate Army repeatedly bloodied the Union juggernaut. The natural conclusion to being a gun-loving Southerner, of course, means that I'm a firm believer in the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution - the ever controversial right to bear arms. I was even at one time in my younger years a "card-carrying member" of the NRA. But, alas, perhaps I'm feeling particularly nostalgic for my native Southland today, because really none of this is the focus of this blogpost. Allow me to get to the point:
My experience in living through these violent times in Mexico have only reinforced my belief that a well-armed citizenry is a firm deterrent to widespread, unchecked criminal activity. Guns, for all of the terrible harm that they are capable of in the wrong hands, would be, in the hands of law-abiding citizens, the first, best defense against Mexico's criminal anarchy. This, in brief, is the situation in Mexico: a population of hardworking, law-abiding citizens lives under daily threats of murder, kidnapping, robbery, extorsion, rape - you name the crime. These people live in a state of siege by a wide variety of well-armed criminal elements. To make matters worse, there is virtually no local police protection. In many cases, the local police are even worse than the criminals themselves. The old NRA proverb that says, "If guns are outlawed, then only outlaws will have guns" is no truer anywhere on the planet than in Mexico.
Mexico has some of the strictest gun laws in the world. Their constitution does, however, superficially permit Mexican citizens the right to own firearms: Article 10 of the 1917 Mexican Constitution states:
Citizens of the republic may, for their protection, own guns and arms in their homes. Only arms sanctioned by the Army may be owned, and federal law will state the manner in which they can be used (Firearms are prohibited from importation into the Republic without proper licensing and documentation. Foreigners may not pass the border with unlicensed firearms; the commission of such act is a felony, punishable by prison term.)
What is to be noted in Article 10 is the phrase, "only arms sanctioned by the Army may be owned," and this means arms of smaller calibers and things such as 6-shooter revolvers no larger than .38 cal and bolt-action rifles of smaller calibers. But even with the supposed constitutional "right to bear arms" in Mexico, the government makes the process of legally obtaining a firearm as difficult as possible. Furthermore, this right to possess firearms applies only to one's home, farm or property. There are strict laws for transporting firearms - one must obtain special "transport liscenses," for example. Also, public shooting ranges are forbidden. One cannot purchase firearms except in special government stores and there are very few of them - in Mexico City, for example, a city of 20 million people, there is only one authorized retail outlet where a citizen, after applying and navigating the maze of government bureaucracy, can purchase a firearm. And this outlet, UCAM ("Commercial Unit of Arms and Munitions" in English), is run by the Mexican Army. This does not provide for a well-armed citizenry to repel criminal activity. But, despite all this, the people are now starting to push back against the flood of criminal persecution. Two cases in particular have made headlines:
This past November, Don Alejo Garza, a 77-year old rancher in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, fought back against the heavily-armed drug cartels who were trying to confiscate his property. On Saturday morning, November 13, Don Alejo was visited by cartel operatives who said he had 24 hours to turn his ranch over to them. So he sent his farmhands home early that day and valiantly holed himself up in his ranch house armed with his hunting rifles and shotguns. When the drug cartel operatives showed up that evening, he ambushed them - killing four of them before they killed him by throwing a hand grenade into the building. Here's the story on the excellent news source, Borderland Beat. Also, read this blurb on the Field & Stream website.
And more recently, the residents of the small farming town of Villa Cárdenas, in the state of Zacatecas have decided to fight back against the intimidating drug cartels. Last week a cartel ordered the townspeople to turn over their hunting rifles and they flatly refused. So the drug cartel issued a warning: "turn your weapons over to us or we'll come and get them." The town's reply could be summed up by this flag from Texas history:
And so, this past Sunday (Feb. 27, 2011), the drug cartel operatives returned to Villa Cárdenas to make good on their threat. The townspeople, who had implored the Mexican Army and Federal Police to protect them, were left to fend for themselves. This unfortunately is typical in Mexico. So when the heavily-armed cartel operatives rolled into town in their late-model pick ups and SUVs, the townspeople were waiting for them. The shootout began at noon and lasted for hours - leaving two cartel gunmen dead - fortunately there were no civillian casualties. The cartel left behind one of their vehicles in their retreat. But the danger now is that there will be, without a doubt, retaliation. Unless the town is occupied by the Mexican Army (which now it might be due to the publicity), the cartel will return in force and try to wipe the town off the map. No doubt the townspeople know this and will be waiting for them ... Here's the story on Borderland Beat.
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