Lawmakers from the Partido Revolucionario Institutional (PRI) will submit a proposal in the federal Chamber of Deputies that would ease the process for Mexicans to legally own weapons and obtain permits to carry them on their persons.
Currently, citizens are limited to a small category of firearms that can only be purchased via the Ministry of Defense in a lengthy process requiring a significant amount of paperwork.
The proposed legislation would allow citizens who are “physically and mentally healthy and without a criminal record” to carry weapons in their vehicles and in the workplace.
Few law-abiding citizens own legally purchased weapons. Most firearms circulating in Mexico, used by criminals, are bought on the black market. A large percentage easily enter the country as contraband across the U.S. border. In August 2021, the Mexican government filed a lawsuit against 11 U.S.-based gunmakers accusing them of knowingly facilitating the sale of guns to drug cartels in Mexico.
The PRI proposal drew plenty of blowback, with noted author and political analyst Denise Dresser summing up the views of many: “Here is a recipe for Mexico to be more violent, less governable, and become a no man’s land.”
A poll conducted by the Chamber of Deputies’ Centro de Estudios de Opinión at the end of 2021 showed that 55.2 percent of Mexicans believe that easing restrictions on owning and carrying weapons would lead to an increase in crime. Only 26 percent approved of the proposal.