IT'S DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND THE GUN LAWS IN MEXICO

In the late 1700s, just after the British shot up the French and
Indians, they turned their sights on the Colonies by demanding high
taxes be sent back to Parliament. They had to pay the costs of having
kicked French and Indian butt, you know.

Our ancestors the colonists, turned both cheeks, bent over and said,
"Kick me!"

Our ancestors did not fight back and the United States of America
never ... happened?

Wait a sec. Wrong part of North America. Wrong era.

It was not the Colonists of back then who said "Kick me," it's what
Mexico is saying today.

Of course, we fought back against the British! And Obama is our
president and Prince William is not our future king.

So why doesn't Mexico fight back against drug cartels, extortionists,
kidnappers ... how did good people let thugs take over their country
- -- virtually in every facet of everyday life.

It's because they possess few wea pons to defend against the bad guys,
no real way to keep from getting extorted, kidnapped or murdered -- at
will.

Scene: Three vans drive onto a street. Two block traffic flow. The
third stops at a front door. Men get out, kick in the door, and shoot
everybody in the house. Three vans drive away.

Scene continued: Police arrive after the gunsmoke clears. The news
media announces, "No arrests were made."

What's amazing to me is that hardly anyone in Mexico talks about
self-defense. Why don't citizens demand the right to more easily
obtain weapons? To do so now is a paperwork hassle.

Let's see now:

Scene: Three vans drive onto a street. Two block traffic flow. The
third stops at a front door ... and as soon as the men start kicking
in the door, and weapons come out, rifle barrels pop out from every
window on the street.

Scene continued: Family in the house isn't dead.

Where in Mexico is the conviction our Colonists had?

In Switzerland, there's a motto: "A gun in every closet." It's a
generations-old tradition. Men do a mandatory short stint in the
military, then take their weapon home.

If some other nation invades, a rifle barrel pops out of every window
on the street.

Nobody invades Switzerland, and recently citizens voted to nix an
initiative to stop this gun-in-a-closet practice. Some were decrying
guns because there are an appalling 300 gun crimes in the Switzerland
each year.

Three-hundred? In Mexico, there are more than 8,000 murders a year,
and rising. Eight murders a day in Juarez.

What about the police?

Well, who are the police? All people see are masked men -- Darth Vader
heads -- arriving at murder scenes ... late. Policemen don't want to
be recognized by the drug cartels. They might get killed, too.

What about help from us?

Well, Mexico takes our money, all right. And once in a while somebody
of note will say, "We're making inroads against the corruption ... oh,
and we can sure use some more money."

What about us putting our foot down?

We could sternly warn the cartels that we're getting pretty upset, and
they better not dare, or even think about ...

You know, like we scare the pants off North Korea and
Iran.

Bottom line:

Mexico's constitution offers citizens the right to own guns. But gun
laws are so strict, and penalties for violations so harsh, that it's
difficult for the regular citizen to own anything much more powerful
than a .22 -- i.e. a popgun compared to the armories of the bad guys.

I just don't understand Mexico.