Mexico

[mbw]

Are illegal drugs and smuggled American arms the root causes of violence in Mexico? I don’t believe that they are. I think that there are several other reasons that the entire country is coming apart at the seams.

If the general population of a country desires peace and prosperity, that is what they will have. Sounds simplistic, doesn’t it. It is simplistic. Regardless of what politicians on both sides would have you believe. It is not government and laws that keep a population in check but rather the will of the people. If the general population of say, Houston, wanted to have general chaos in the streets there would be nothing that the government could do to stop it. There are not enough police and firemen and emergency personnel to have any effect with a general uprising. That is what we are seeing today in Mexico. There are too many outlaws with weapons and the will to use them for the authorities to have much effect in stopping them. The rewards that they are reaping are too great. Entire communities are built up around the transportation and manufacturing of illegal drugs.

Why is this happening? I think that there is one overlying reason that no politician on either side of the border dares to mention. The general population of Mexico is unarmed. They can not fight back against these outlaws even if they wanted to. As a result, they are leaving the country in droves. Again, police and even army can not control a large number of the population if they do not want to be controlled. Only the general population when they desire to end the chaos can do it. I am not saying that an armed insurrection is the answer; just the threat of it will do the trick. Several instances of armed resistance by the general population would stop it in its tracks. If the outlaws knew that they were faced with an armed and resolute general population the violence would end rather quickly.

Most of the people who would fight to change the present situation have either already left or are in the planning stages of moving their families and businesses out of the country. They really have no choice in the matter. They realize that in order to survive they must get away from the civil unrest and violence that runs rampant in their country today. If those same people had access to weapons of self defense, none of this would be happening in Mexico.

It is the mindset of the people along with the means and ability to do something about it that will stop the violence, not laws and political maneuvers. Peace and prosperity can not be legislated. It must be something that the general population wants. Laws are to be used as punishment for acts that are committed against society. Very rarely can they be used to steer a population in a certain direction. When this is tried it usually ends in dismal failure. Witness prohibition and even our current drug laws. Criminals by their very nature do not obey or respect any law. By the way, that also means that everyone who uses illegal drugs is a criminal and is contributing to this problem.


The continued news stories that we are being inundated with from our wonderful media continue to focus on the smuggling of arms from the US into Mexico. I would agree that this has become a problem. The problem is that the weapons are going to the wrong people. I would also like to remind the president of Mexico and our own politicians that the only reason that Mexico, as bad as their current situation continues to be, is a democracy today is because of the flow of weapons and personnel from the US into Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. Without the arms and people behind them Mexico would still be a part of Spain or perhaps worse.

What are the major differences between the USA and Mexico? The first is our mindset that we as a country want peace and prosperity. The second is that our citizens have the means and ability to do something about those who would rather have chaos and lawlessness, we are an armed population and the people of Mexico are not.

[Astro]

This is being used as one of the excuses to ban "assualt" weapons. This is no where near true at least i dont see how it possibly could be....I mean i havent seen any automatic weapons or rocket launcher for sale on the steet corner lately have you?

[casingpoint]

Because of Mexico's strong Catholic moral roots and a culture deeply ingrained in machisimo, the drug cartels would be no match for the citizens of that country if Mexicans were empowered with firearms. The best move the U.S. could make at this point is to provide clandestine weapons to the Mexicans so they can clean their own house. Talk about blood running in the streets. Thousands of Mexicans, armed with military caliber weapons, each with a license to kill from God. What a bloodbath.

[mbw]

This article describes the problem-

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6328994.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Oldgringo]

Money, dinero, is the root of the problem.

The sell and transport of street drugs (the forbidden fruit) provide enormous amounts of money or dinero to the sellers and growers, The enormous amounts of money fosters corruption in the government and crime in the streets. If the drugs were available through legal channels, the huge profits would disappear (U.S. pharmaceutical companies excepted) and without the money incentive, the crime would be geatly reduced.

How many different times and ways, how many lives must be lost and dollars wasted demonstrating that prohibition hasn't and doesn't work, before the lesson is learned?

[roberts]

"Exterminate gangsters with guns. Fight fire with fire... If I had my way, I would arm honest, dependable citizens and declare open war on all manner of gangsters. I would shoot on sight. If the gangsters were obliged to face the same weapons they use in menacing honest citizens, they would change their tactics."
Police Commissioner Roche, quoted in the Buffalo Times, Buffalo, New York, July 11, 1933.

[Mike1951]

This is being used as one of the excuses to ban "assualt" weapons. This is no where near true at least i dont see how it possibly could be....I mean i havent seen any automatic weapons or rocket launcher for sale on the steet corner lately have you?

I have no idea how the number of semi-auto firearms compares to the number of true "assault" weapons used in Mexico.

But what is at the center of the antigun crowd's push on this is the supposedly large number of semi-auto firearms bought here as straw purchases. Carter Country has been singled out in several cases. Straw buyers are paid $100 to buy the firearm, which is then transported into Mexico.

They are trying to focus the entire gun problem in Mexico on a small number of already illegal straw purchases here.

[Astro]

I refuse to believe my good old boys at Carters would do this with knowledge.

[Mike1951]

I wasn't implying any wrongdoing at Carters, but the fact remains that a quantity of the guns resulted from straw purchases from them.

I do wonder at what point a commissioned salesperson would hazard the loss of a big ticket sale by asking enough questions to make sure the sale is legitimate.

Or whether management would appreciate his salesman declining sales.

[Liberty]

I wasn't implying any wrongdoing at Carters, but the fact remains that a quantity of the guns resulted from straw purchases from them.

I do wonder at what point a commissioned salesperson would hazard the loss of a big ticket sale by asking enough questions to make sure the sale is legitimate.

Or whether management would appreciate his salesman declining sales.

Even the BATF is saying that very few guns cross the border this way. Apparently the biggest straw purchaser is the Mexican army and the Federales, They buy the pretty black guns that are available to them legally in fully automatic, and then the corrupt officers then turn around and sell them to the Drug gangs.

[Mike1951]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hea ... 39531.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ATF says it has boosted efforts to alert more than 3,700 federally licensed firearms dealers near the border to spot the U.S. citizens serving as straw weapons buyers who can make up to $100 a weapon for purchasing firearms for drug cartels.

[wheelgun1958]

Apparently the biggest straw purchaser is the Mexican army and the Federales, They buy the pretty black guns that are available to them legally in fully automatic, and then the corrupt officers then turn around and sell them to the Drug gangs.

As well as all the failed 'banana republics' to the south of Mexico.