Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

Mexico has Bigger Problems than the Second Amendment

Monday, January 30, 2023

Mexico has Bigger Problems than the Second Amendment

In an attempt to deflect from their own woeful mismanagement, Mexican politicians often try to blame the country’s violent crime problem on Americans’ Second Amendment rights. However, recent news regarding at least one drug cartel manufacturing their own firearms and public corruption show that Mexico’s problems go far deeper than the rights enjoyed by their wealthy neighbors to the north.

Back in August 2021, the Mexican government filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts against the most prominent U.S. gun manufacturers alleging that these heavily regulated businesses were somehow responsible for Mexico’s violent crime problem. The Mexico suit was filed with the help of handgun prohibition group Brady (formerly Handgun Control, Inc.), and specifically longtime Brady counsel Jonathan Lowy.

Sanity prevailed on September 30, when U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV dismissed Mexico’s lawsuit in its entirety. However, on October 10 the Mexican government filed a second federal suit in Arizona against five U.S. gun dealers.

According to a December 27 post on BorderlandBeat.com, back in 2014 a prominent drug cartel in the Mexican state of Jalisco started manufacturing their own firearms. The item stated that the “criminal group put into operation two medium-scale factories for AR-15 rifles.”

The article went on to report,

"We are securing a highly sophisticated machinery, which has a very precise software that allowed to make the cuts to finish the mechanism of the weapon and that the weapon finished perfectly," said the then Jalisco prosecutor, Luis Carlos Nájera.

Inside the premises in the Villa Guerrero neighborhood, Jalisco state police found a CNC lathe machine, several metal molds for making magazines, butts, barrels and firing mechanisms.

Authorities presumed that the factory had the capacity to build around 20 rifles per day.

This week, the federal trial against Mexico’s former secretary of public security, Genaro Garcia Luna, began in New York City. According to the Associated Press, Garcia Luna was formerly Mexico’s “top cop,” and “led Mexico’s Federal Investigation Agency from 2001 to 2005, then served as secretary of public security to then-President Felipe Calderon from 2006 to 2012.”

Federal prosecutors allege that the former Mexican government official was on the Sinaloa cartel’s payroll. Summarizing the prosecutor’s opening arguments, the AP reported,

“The person who’s supposed to be in charge of fighting the Sinaloa cartel was actually its most valued asset ... and with his help, the cartel made millions,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Philip Pilmar told jurors. He called García Luna “a man who betrayed both his country and ours.”

If what federal prosecutors allege is true, a reasonable person might wonder how difficult the cartels find it to procure firearms from government sources.

The truth is that Mexico’s violent criminals have no shortage of ways to obtain all sorts of weaponry.

Back in 2011, when the Obama administration was using Mexican violence to push its domestic gun control agenda, U.S. diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks showed how criminals were able to get their hands on military-grade hardware.

As explained by the Latin American Herald Tribune,

The most fearsome weapons wielded by Mexico’s drug cartels enter the country from Central America, not the United States, according to U.S. diplomatic cables disseminated by WikiLeaks and published on Tuesday by La Jornada newspaper.

Items such as grenades and rocket-launchers are stolen from Central American armies and smuggled into Mexico via neighboring Guatemala, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City reported to Washington.

None of this is new.

A United Press International report from January 1979, titled “Cops don’t give a shoot about guns in Mexico,” noted, “At least 75 percent of Mexico City’s 30,000 policemen have either lost, hocked or sold their guns, according to a police survey.” The piece went on to explain, “Many officers, the survey added, sell their new weapons and buy old ones to make a little money.”

Rather than targeting American small businessmen, the Mexican government might try exercising a little sovereignty over its own territory.

TRENDING NOW
Colorado: Mandatory Storage Bill Passes General Assembly and Semi-Auto Ban Temporarily Removed from Calendar

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Colorado: Mandatory Storage Bill Passes General Assembly and Semi-Auto Ban Temporarily Removed from Calendar

In a temporary reprieve for Colorado gun owners, the semi-auto ban HB24-1292 has been removed from the calendar. But we cannot let our guard down as gun control advocates can bring it up for a vote at ...

The U.S. Supreme Court Looks at Government “Blacklists”

News  

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

The U.S. Supreme Court Looks at Government “Blacklists”

Much of the attention this past week in the United States Supreme Court was the oral arguments in National Rifle Association of America v. Vullo, No. 22-842, a First Amendment case on whether government officials ...

25 years and one PLCAA Later, Chicago is Still Harassing Gunmakers

News  

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

25 years and one PLCAA Later, Chicago is Still Harassing Gunmakers

On March 19, the city of Chicago filed suit against handgun manufacturer Glock. Seeking to shift responsibility for the city’s woeful governance, Chicago’s lawsuit blames the popular firearm manufacturer for the third-party criminal misuse of ...

Washington: Governor Signs Anti-Gun Legislation

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Washington: Governor Signs Anti-Gun Legislation

Today, Governor Inslee signed five anti-gun bills into law that were recently passed by the Washington State Legislature. The bills include:

Colorado: Semi-Auto Ban Passes Committee and Sensitive Places Bill Hearing Rescheduled for Today!

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Colorado: Semi-Auto Ban Passes Committee and Sensitive Places Bill Hearing Rescheduled for Today!

Yesterday the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on House Bill 24-1292, the semi-auto ban, that lasted over 12 hours where hundreds of patriotic Coloradans overloaded the committee with opposition testimony. The hearing concluded with an ...

NRA Files Amicus Brief Asking Supreme Court to Hear Antonyuk v. James

News  

Second Amendment  

Monday, March 25, 2024

NRA Files Amicus Brief Asking Supreme Court to Hear Antonyuk v. James

In response to the NRA’s victory in Bruen, which secured every American’s right to carry arms, NY passed the “Concealed Carry Improvement Act,” severely restricting carry throughout the state. The 2nd Circuit upheld many of ...

Pennsylvania: Senate Committee Passes Full Inclusion Sunday Hunting

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Pennsylvania: Senate Committee Passes Full Inclusion Sunday Hunting

On Wednesday, the Senate Game & Fisheries Committee voted 7-4 to pass Senate Bill 67 to the Senate floor for a vote. 

California: DOJ Proposes Emergency Rule that Reauthorizes NRA Instructors

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

California: DOJ Proposes Emergency Rule that Reauthorizes NRA Instructors

On Monday, March 25th, the California Department of Justice published an emergency rulemaking package proposing to amend the Carry Concealed Weapons DOJ Certified Instructors regulations. Under the proposed rulemaking, NRA Certified Instructors would once again ...

Grassroots Spotlight: Michigan Grassroots

Take Action  

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Grassroots Spotlight: Michigan Grassroots

It's been a busy start to the year in the Wolverine State, as the Michigan NRA-ILA Grassroots Team has been out alerting and educating members and supporters on the critical changes in gun laws and working to stop ...

Kentucky: Credit Card Data Privacy Bill Passed Into Law

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Kentucky: Credit Card Data Privacy Bill Passed Into Law

Today, Governor Andy Beshear let HB 357, the Merchant Category Code ban legislation pass into law without his signature. Your NRA would like to thank Representatives Derek Lewis (R, H-90), Michael Meredith (R, H-19), and Senator ...

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.