PA Bill Number: SB945
Title: Consolidating the act of August 9, 1955 (P.L.323, No.130), known as The County Code; and making repeals.
Description: Consolidating the act of August 9, 1955 (P.L.323, No.130), known as The County Code; and making repeals. ...
Last Action: Third consideration and final passage (199-0)
Last Action Date: Apr 17, 2024
Mexico arrangement highlights folly of gun control measures :: 08/25/2016
HILLARY Clinton supports stringent new gun-control laws, but denies she wants to gut Second Amendment rights. To see what it looks like when you implement two such seemingly contradictory goals, look no further than Mexico. The results don't bolster Clinton's case.
Under Mexico's constitution, citizens have the right to own a handgun and hunting rifles for self-defense and sport. But as The Associated Press recently reported, “Legally getting your hands on one, however, requires clearing a series of bureaucratic hurdles far stricter than in the United States and, for many, traveling great distances to reach the country's only gun store.”
You read that right — Mexico's “only” gun store. The AP reports the single store in Mexico where one can legally buy a gun is “tucked away in an anonymous building on an army base in the capital.” The store, which cannot legally advertise its products or even its existence, sold 10,115 weapons in 2015. In a nation of 120 million, that's a statistical blip.
The Mexican government requires at least six documents to purchase a gun. The process can take months. Registration is required. Concealed carry permits are rarely issued because authorities say citizens should rely on the government to protect them.
Even after accounting for legal and illegal firearms, Mexico has an estimated ratio of 15 guns for every 100 people. In comparison, one survey estimates there are 88.8 guns for every 100 U.S. residents.
If strict gun control worked, Mexico should be a Nirvana when it comes to low gun violence. We're not breaking any news when we report that's not the case. There were more than 164,000 killings in Mexico between 2007 and 2014.
Ryan W. McMaken, the editor of Mises Wire, argues Mexico's high murder rate is driven in part by that country's gun laws, not in spite of them.
He writes that “in Mexico, there is an immense asymmetry in gun ownership between violent criminals and law-abiding citizens. Criminals have abundant access to the means of violent coercion, and the will to use it. Ordinary citizens, on the other hand, have, practically speaking, no access.”
It's true many killings in Mexico are tied to drug activity. Yet McMaken notes there's a huge difference between the violent crime rates in Mexican states that border the U.S. and the U.S. counties that border Mexico, despite the fact that drug running occurs in both.
The homicide rate in Mexican states bordering the United States is often more than 25 per 100,000 people. On average, officials at the Center for Global Development found Mexican border municipalities experienced 34.5 murders for every 100,000 people.
In comparison, the homicide rate in U.S. border counties was only 1.4 per 100,000 people. That's not just less than the rate in Mexico, but also less than the U.S. national average.
So why is there such a stark difference between geographically connected areas that are all plagued by drug crime? McMaken argues that Mexico's gun laws create a “lopsided situation that favors the cartels,” not law-abiding citizens.
While criminals in the U.S. can obtain guns, he notes law-abiding citizens are also armed, which creates a deterrent effect for much criminal activity.
Mexico's experience is further evidence validating common sense. Not only do stringent gun-control laws that severely restrict gun ownership among law- abiding citizens fail to deter criminals, those laws can actually empower violent thugs.
