The Mexican government has issued a stark warning to foreign nationals thinking of bringing a weapon into the country by passing a reform that will see unlicensed gun owners receiving hefty fines and sentences of between 3 to 10 years in prison.
The crackdown on the private ownership of weapons is designed to reduce the black market in guns, which has fueled the drug-war violence that has risen in Mexico since 2007.
A recent high-profile case brought Mexico’s strict gun laws into light, when U.S. reserve marine Andrew Tahmooressi was held for seven months in Tijuana on weapons charges. Several guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition were found in Tahmooressi’s vehicle, although the marine insisted he had crossed the border by mistake, not to sell the weapons. His mother, Jill, campaigned on his behalf and several Republican politicians publicly called for his release. Mexican authorities dropped the charges against him on October 31 last year.