The purchase of weapons in Mexico achieved a historical record in recent years, Marked by the spiral of violence that unleashed drug cartels in the country.
An official study reveals that the acquisition of weapons legally or illegally among the civilian population has grown steadily in recent years to reach 2018-352,000, which represents an annual increase of 33%.
The document “Acquisition of weapons in Mexico 2012-18: findings of the National Survey of Victimization of Crimes in Mexico” states that most Mexicans who buy weapons for self-defense are “Young men distrusting police forces and lives in rural areas or with strong criminal activity. “
This is a trend contrary to the phenomenon in the United States, where older people, especially the elderly, are the ones who acquire the most weapons.
Another difference from neighboring country is that in Mexico the people with the most education and income are the ones who acquire weapons, Which breaks with the hypotheses made at the start of the study.
A clandestine grave in the municipality of El Salt in the state of Jalisco (Mexico). EFE photo
The report, prepared by Carlos Pérez Ricart, a member of the Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE), based on data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), for the first time to identify the number of weapons in the possession of persons not linked to the crime or drug trafficking.
Pérez Ricart estimates that, between 2012 and 2018, at least 1,890,000 households had a firearm for their protection, 5.5% of the total Mexican households.
“If we assume that the average number of people living in a house is 3.6 inhabitants in our country, we infer that there was at least 6.8 million people that they had access to firearms from the comfort of home, ”he explained.
They can be more
The specialist explains that the number of Mexicans with at least one gun in their home could be higher than the survey, “because one of the big problems with surveys is that a good percentage of people do not admit to having weapons, even if they have them. “
In his extensive study, the researcher says that living in an environment of insecurity exposes people to being victims of crime, which in turn multiplies the chances that an assaulted person “feels the need to acquire a weapon for self-defense“Especially because he lost confidence in the police.”
“We saw that people who have been victimized tend to be people who buy weapons. We call this the effect of contagion, which acts like an epidemic: if you were already victimized, you are more likely to buy weapons,” he said. ‘researcher.
The document cites the case of Marc, 62, who lives in Ecatepec, a giant poor suburb north of the capital. He bought two short guns in 2017 after a robbery at home while on vacation. “We live in a neighborhood where the police shine for their absence and luckily the robbery took place when we weren’t home, but if we had been with what I would have defended my family,” the man wondered, who to say that I also “taught how to shoot my daughters.”
The problem is that guns acquired them on the illegal circuit, So they are not registered with the Ministry of Defense.
Several regions of Mexico, especially in the north, in the provinces bordering the United States, they are dominated by drug cartels. Massacres are very common, the product of the struggles between these organizations for regional control.
The spiral of violence that has emerged since 2006 launches almost 350,000 dead and 77,000 missing in the country, and the numbers continue to rise dramatically.
It is in this context that the reaction of the civilian population takes place, who decide to arm themselves to defend themselves.
Source: ANSA and Clarín
PB