Mexico: Dynamics of the Gun Trade

The number of drug related killings this year in Mexico has topped 2,000 and has exceeded last years' same point in time killings (drug related) by 300. And it could even be more than that, but we don't know. Reportedly, police officials are knowingly underreporting such drug related killings.

The drug cartels, that we hear about occasionally, are kidnapping, raping, torturing, and killing; and that includes beheadings. Some claim Mexico is the "kidnapping capital of the world." To say that these criminal gangs are "armed and dangerous" would be a gross understatement.

Because of this, the most wealthy in Mexico own armored cars and employ heavily armed security teams to protect themselves, their family members, and their homes. So if you just happen to be in the business of manufacturing armored vehicles, you have a wanting market in Mexico just waiting for you to take care of their needs. You can probably turn a good buck or two down there.

Stratfor Terrorism Intelligence Report has written on this topic. One paragraph of their article states:

The one constant in these violent crimes is guns. Mexico's robust gun culture stretches back to revolutions, counterrevolutions and revolutionary bandits such as Pancho Villa. Because of this culture, guns are common in Mexico -- despite strict gun-control laws and licensing procedures. This demand for guns has created an illicit market that not only is intimately related to the U.S. market for illegal narcotics but also, in many ways, mirrors the dynamics of that market. Drugs flow north and guns flow south -- resulting in handsome profits for those willing to run the risks.

I highlighted (bold emphasis) one sentence that jumped out at me.

So despite the fact that Mexico has strict gun control laws and licensing procedures, guns still fall (shock - shock) into the hands of the murderers, drug runners, and thieves. This does not enhance ones' argument for trying to undo our 2nd amendment.

Read their full article, "Mexico: Dynamics of the Gun Trade" here.

Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes...such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."

--- Thomas Jefferson quoting from 'On Crimes and Punishment' by criminologist Cesare Beccaria, 1764