There is quite literally only one gun store in Mexico. It’s an army operated store in Mexico City that doesn’t sell any caliber above a.22. There’s a reason there’s only one. The government makes it nearly impossible to own firearms legally in the country. Paperwork is extensive, the process takes months to complete without any certainty of outcome, and if approved one must travel to Mexico City to purchase a .22 that’s priced in a way that’s cost-prohibitive for most Mexican families. The net result is only 1% of Mexicans legally possessing a firearm. If fewer legally owned guns equaled less violence and safer communities, Mexico would be one of the safest countries in the world and exponentially safer than the United States, especially when only low caliber guns are possessed.
In the United States just over 30% of adults legally own a firearm. That’s literally 30 times the ownership rate in Mexico. And 84% of the guns legally purchased are higher caliber than .22. So, what’s the murder rate difference? A record average of 90 murders per day in Mexico in 2019, while the US averages 46 murders per day.
The Mexican population is 130 million. The US population is 328 million. To put it another way, you’re greater than 500% more likely to be murdered in Mexico than in the United States where the legal gun ownership rate is 30 times higher with much higher caliber guns. For all who espouse the narrative that guns, rather than people are the problem, explain this one for me.
The escalation of violence in Mexico has reached crisis levels. Not only has the murder rate reached record levels, but cartels have also recently outgunned government forces to recover El Chapo’s son and later executing a police officer responsible for the arrests. No private citizens are capable of defense, so the cartels are the law of the land. The Mexican government has lost battles to the cartels, so not even law enforcement is an option. The only option for Mexicans is to acquiesce to the demands of the cartels when they come calling.
As for you visiting Mexico, it’s unlawful to bring any firearm into the country. This is what gun control has brought Mexico. Record low gun ownership and record-high murder rates. These are the facts and this should be at the forefront of the American gun control conversation.
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