It is easy to discredit the fallacy that severe restrictions on the sale and ownership of firearms is a means of curbing violence in America. We need look no further than across our southern border.
Did you know there is only one gun store in Mexico, guarded by armed military personnel? It takes months of paperwork to even have the chance to buy a gun. If you are not law enforcement or military, you are lucky to procure a .22. Most Mexicans have about as much chance of being adequately armed to protect themselves and their families as they have of winning the lottery.
That is not to say there are not plenty of guns in Mexico. The dope dealers and cartels have an abundance of guns of any and every caliber. In fact, the paramilitaries the cartels use to enforce their will are about as well-armed as a combat soldier in the field. In essence, with the exception of law enforcement, military and a handful of people who can either bribe or game the system, practically all the guns in Mexico are illegal.
Let’s look at what effect such ultra-restrictive gun laws have had on crime. Between 2000 and 2012, 215,000 people were murdered. In 2012 Mexico had a murder rate of 21.5 per 100,000. In 2018 there were 33,341 murders, and the 2019 number is expected to be even higher. Violent crimes increased from 5.2 million in 2017 to 6 million in 2018. Nearly 1,200 kidnappings happened in Mexico in 2018.
One of every 10 women in Mexico has been a victim of sexual assault, and there are 120,000 rapes a year—one every four minutes—making Mexico the number one nation for sexual violence.
Politics in Mexico are as crooked as a barrel of fish hooks and as corrupt as a mafia horse race. There is simply so much money generated by the drug trade that by means of buying off or intimidation, the drug cartels do practically anything they want without fear of official intervention. Some of the most gruesome murders of the century have been committed there: grisly, hideous mass graves show murders as warnings to informers, politicians and law enforcement officials who refuse to cooperate.
What have all the super-stringent gun laws done to protect life in Mexico? If you will be honest, you’ll have to admit they’ve done the opposite. The laws have armed the criminals who have no regard for any law and will obtain weapons illegally, while leaving law-abiding citizens without the means to protect themselves.
Most importantly, do you not understand that what’s happened in Mexico could happen in America? Can’t you see that when you take away the means of protection from law-abiding people, it is not going to reduce the gun population among the criminal element one-half of one percent?
It has been proven over and over that about the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun, and no matter how vehemently self-serving politicians may contest this, the fact remains irrefutable. The next time you see Bernie, Uncle Joe, Elizabeth or any of the other anti-gun candidates, ask them, “If good guys having guns is bad, why do you always have armed security with you?”
What do you think?
God bless America.
— Charlie Daniels
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