Gun Violence: The View from Mexico
Confiscated weapons are seen at the office of Sonora’s State Police in Hermosillo September 7, 2012. A family of suspected drug traffickers in Mexico lost an arsenal after their 9-year-old boy took a gun, loaded with bullets known as “cop killers” to school, leading police to a house full of lethal weapons. Officers raided the boy’s home finding 13,000 rounds of ammunition, various pistols, as well as rifles including Kalashnikov AK-47s, and an Uzi submachine gun, a spokesman for police in the northern city of Hermosillo said on Friday. REUTERS/Sonora State Police/Handout (MEXICO – Tags: CRIME LAW SOCIETY) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
In Mexico, guns are tightly regulated.
Its constitution – like in the US – guarantees the right to bear arms.
But unlike the US, Mexico has laws that make it very hard to legally obtain a firearm.
Still, if you look at the long and violent drug war there, it would seem that such laws don’t make Mexicans any safer.
We speak with Alberto Islas, a security expert based in Mexico City.