Mexico situation demonstrates gun laws not effective

Some cities across the Mexico border from Yuma County have apparently picked up an idea from cities here in the United States about how to get guns off the streets.

San Luis Rio Colorado - along with 24 other Sonoran cities - is offering to buy guns from individuals to get the weapons out of circulation. It is an idea used by some U.S. cities for many years, except in Sonora it has been expanded to include explosives and pyrotechnic devices.

The mayor of the San Luis Rio Colorado was recently recognized for doing a little extra by increasing payments from $47 to $77 for operable firearms and from $23 to $38 for inoperable guns as part of the 2010 voluntary turnover program. The goal, of course, is to encourage more guns to be turned in.

Almost 100 guns were turned in last year in San Luis Rio Colorado and the overall goal for Sonora is upwards of 600 guns this year.

That number seems a little surprising, given the very strict laws against gun possession by private individuals in Mexico. Clearly, even strict gun laws can be ignored.

The irony is that the criminals in Mexico, especially the drug gangs, are not deterred by these laws at all. Mexico is making every effort to stop them from getting guns, yet nearly a military-style war is being fought between drug gangs and authorities in that country.

Some of the guns being smuggled into Mexico have been detected and stopped at local border checkpoints. Still, the criminals may be better armed than the police and even the military in Mexico.

Perhaps the strict laws are discouraging law-abiding Mexico citizens from keeping firearms for self-defense, but they are not preventing the criminals who prey on them from being armed to the teeth. It is a case study in why anti-gun laws are ineffective in stemming misuse of guns.