Anti-gun activist David Hogg blames the United States for what happened in Puerto Vallarta. In his mind, the problem is that we don't have enough gun control on the books. In response, I pointed out that an armed population probably would have kept the cartels from getting to be the problem they are.
Of course, I'm just one guy, and because of where I write, I'm a little biased.
Over at the Washington Examiner, columnist Sean Durn, however, seems to agree with my premise.
Mexico is awash in violence. And the country’s stringent gun control laws aren’t helping.
On Feb. 22, the Mexican military carried out an operation that killed Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, nicknamed “El Mencho,” the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). Mexican armed forces were reportedly trained by a small cadre of U.S. Navy SEALs who entered the country on a “training mission” approved by Mexico’s Senate.
CJNG responded to El Mencho’s death with wanton violence. The cartel murdered no fewer than 25 Mexican National Guard members and set up no fewer than 250 roadblocks. Schools were closed, and flights at airports were grounded. Dozens of buildings were burned. The savagery spanned multiple jurisdictions. By day’s end, at least 60 people had been slaughtered.
The U.S. and Mexican governments issued joint statements calling for their citizens to “shelter in place.” Countless men, women, and children were forced to hide. Those unlucky to be caught found themselves at the cartel’s mercy.
For many Americans, it is a nearly unthinkable situation. But the United States has the Second Amendment and is filled with thousands of law-abiding gun owners.
Tragically, the same can’t be said for Mexico, where both the state and cartels have a monopoly on gun ownership. Your average citizen gets the short end of the stick.
Mexico’s government might not be able to thwart the cartels, but it sure can regulate firearms ownership.
...
Mexico’s firearms laws are stricter than any in the U.S. In fact, much of what Mexico has on the books is precisely what liberals claim will “curb gun violence.” Their proposed solutions look like Mexico’s gun laws. But just as strict firearms laws haven’t curbed violence in Chicago, Washington, D.C., or Baltimore, they’ve done nothing to make Mexico and its citizens safer.
Of course, anti-gunners, like Hogg, will say that the problem is that guns flow into Mexico from the United States, much like how Chicago blames Indiana's gun laws for their own laws' failures.
But if this were remotely true, why isn't the United States awash in cartel violence? The answer is very simple. We the people can put down a cartel that tries to take control of our neighborhoods, and the cartels know it. They might try to get a little rowdy with a few people who cross them, and do so successfully, even if only through numbers, but to try to effectively take over whole areas? That's going to be a problem for the people living there, and they'll fight back.
Mexico effectively disarmed most of its population. Buying a gun lawfully is an arduous process that clearly did nothing to stop the cartels from arming up, including things like rocket launchers they did not get from the US. Funny how that never makes it into the narrative, ain't it?
Look, Mexican gun control laws did nothing. They're never going to do anything. They blame the United States for their problems because it means they don't have to admit that their laws don't work.
Never mind that smuggling guns out of the United States is illegal as well, which means even US gun laws are being violated beyond the purchasing via straw buys, which is also illegal.
It's not our fault.
It's Mexico's.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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