Does gun control work? Look south, you fools

In an article in the Business Outlook section of the January 31st, Albuquerque Journal, (subscription required) Jerry Pacheco, executive director of New Mexico International Business Accelerator, makes some cogent observations that Liberals should ponder before using isolated incidents of violence, such as the recent Tucson shootings, to resume the drumbeat for more restrictive gun control laws.

The most violent country in the Western Hemisphere is the one on our southern border, a nation where thousands die annually in vicious shootouts, many of whose victims are innocent bystanders, cut down in sweeping hails of fire from illegal, that’s right illegal, firearms, supposedly denied to those who wield them in spite of strict, that’s right, strict, federal government gun controls. Mr. Pacheco asserts, and I find it confirmed by other sources, that while the Mexican constitution does indeed cite the right of its citizens to keep and bear arms, “for their safety and legitimate defense,” the reality is far different. For instance, 2d Amendment activist, Dave Kopel, cites Article 10 of the Mexican Constitution:

“The inhabitants of the United Mexican States have the right to possess arms in their homes for their security and legitimate defense with the exception of those prohibited by federal law and of those reserved for the exclusive use of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and National Guard. Federal law shall determine the cases, conditions and place in which the inhabitants may be authorized to bear arms.”

However, as Mr. Pacheco and Mr. Kopel both note, Mexican federal codes severely restrict this constitutional right, resulting in a reality where law-abiding citizens are generally limited to possession of weapons of small caliber only, no larger than .22. Kopel notes that the corruption which pervades all Mexican official business applies as well to the obtaining of government permits to purchase firearms, making them extremely difficult to obtain.

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