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Mexico’s gun laws responsible for violent holocaust?
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Research from the United Nations (UN) indicates that it may be Mexico’s own restrictive gun control laws which contribute to the country’s rising murder rates.
In Mexico, possession of firearms above .22 caliber is practically prohibited, though there is a second set of rules for the wealthy. Mexico also requires registration for all civilian gun owners, and federal and state governments actively discourage firearms ownership.
Nevertheless, over 6,000 Mexicans have been murdered in the last year––700 in the past month––due to the battle over the drug trade. The Daily Mail reports:
Every day, gun battles rage along Triumph of the Republic Boulevard, the [Ciudad Juarez] main thoroughfare, and the heads of enemies of the drug lords have been impaled on spikes in parks once popular with picnicking families. Hospitals treating victims regularly come under machine-gun fire. Radios used by emergency services are interrupted by the drugs gangs, who warn paramedics they will be killed if they treat any wounded.
As noted in the reference to Mexico’s civilian gun laws above, corruption also plays a part in the murder rate. National Public Radioreports:
Mexican authorities arrested the chief of police in Cancun in connection with the brutal kidnapping, torture and murder of retired army Brig. Gen. Enrique Tello.
United Nations research
The Small Arms Survey (SAS) is an internationally-respected organization on gun violence research, often working with the United Nations:
The Small Arms Survey undertakes joint research projects with independent researchers, international organizations, UN agencies, research organizations, NGOs, and partner institutions.
As a United Nations resource, SAS explains their perspective on firearms:
The proliferation of small arms and light weapons represents a grave threat to human security. The unchecked spread of these weapons has exacerbated inter- and intra-state conflicts, contributed to human rights violations, undermined political and economic development, destabilized communities, and devastated the lives of millions of people.
It's safe to say that SAS supports gun control.
In 1999, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan stated:
Even in societies not beset by civil war, the easy availability of small arms has in many cases contributed to violence and political instability. These, in turn, have damaged development prospects and imperiled human security in every way.*
It's also safe to say the United Nations supports gun control. Therefore, it seems reasonable to conclude that these international players have data showing a correlation between increased civilian firearms inventory and a violent crime indicator such as homicide rates. So let's see what their data tells us.
Between 2003 and 2007, Small Arms Survey compiled civilian firearms inventories for various countries around the world. The European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics – 2006, published under the auspices of the Council of Europe, compiled crime data for the greater European region for the years 2000-2003. This research group “included several members involved in recent UN [crime] surveys.” The latest (2003) values appear in the table below, in order to best correlate firearms ownership with murder rates (expressed as offenses per 100,000 population).
Collating Sourcebook data with SAS firearms per capita data, an interesting trend appears: Higher levels of civilian firearms ownership correlates with lower levels of homicide, and countries with the highest civilian firearms ownership averaged lower homicide rates.
Firearms Versus Homicide | ||
Quartile | Firearms per Capita | Homicide Rate |
1 | 0.374 | 1.6 |
2 | 0.147 | 2.5 |
3 | 0.083 | 2.7 |
4 | 0.020 | 3.5 |
The top quartile is comprised of developed western economies. These data contradict Annan’s assertion that firearms “damaged development prospects and imperiled human security” and the SAS assertion that firearms availability “undermined political and economic development.” The UN’s own reports prove that other factors besides gun control play a larger role in homicide rates.
Returning to Mexico, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported that in 2000 (latest UN data), Mexico’s homicide rate was 14.11, over 2.5 times the U.S. rate, and Mexico’s violent crime increased 68% through mid-2007.
Why aren’t the “experts” acknowledging their own data?
References
* Kofi Annan, Statement of the Security Council, Sept. 24, 1999, UN Press Release SG/SM/7145, SC/6733.
Civilian firearms ownership data can be retrieved by downloading Chapter 2 from SAS Yearbooks for years 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2007 at the SAS Publications page.
For in-depth analysis of the United Nations civilian disarmament program, read Four Hundred Years of Gun Control: Why Isn’t It Working?, which deconstructs the gun control agenda and motivates more people to support our civil right of self-defense.
Check out other Gun Rights Examiners:
- Charlotte: Eric Holder's sour note on 'assault weapons'
- Cleveland: Dashcam video exonerates police in toy gun bandit shooting
- DC: Georgia legislator introduces bill to repeal permit requirement to open carry handguns!
- Denver: Mental toughness
- Los Angeles: Talkradio Thought leaders, another layer of defense
- Minneapolis: An open letter to Senator Jim Webb and pro-gun democrats
- National: Ignorance, racism and 'gun control'
- Seattle: At it again: Anti-gunners trying to demonize yet another class of firearms
- St. Louis: Citizen disarmament lobby is waiting for the next tragedy to exploit
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