For a second, I started to believe that the only English phrase former Mexican president Vicente Fox knew was “I’m not going to pay for that ****ing wall,” because that’s about all he seemed to be quoted in the media saying last year.
Now, after Sunday’s horrific tragedy in Las Vegas, Fox, who was president of a county largely run by drug cartels (and has been alleged to have connections to former Sinaloa Cartel boss ‘El Chapo’ Guzman), is giving America a lecture on gun politics.
#GunControl is a topic that must be dealt with ASAP. American people must not be looking over their shoulder for their countrymen.
— Vicente Fox Quesada (@VicenteFoxQue) October 2, 2017
There were a few useful idiots who agreed with Fox, but most couldn’t help but laugh at being lectured about America’s gun problem by someone who previously represented a country with more gun violence than the United States.
https://twitter.com/shumad1/status/914867673976262657
People acting like he got rid of Cartels In Mexico ??♂️ SMH.. his hometown is runned by the narco state
— David Garcia (@DavidGOficial) October 2, 2017
Yes, gun control has worked well with the drug cartels in Mexico. Nice work
— ♥️North Carolina♥️ (@_North_Carolina) October 2, 2017
While Mexicans do have a constitutional right to gun ownership, it is heavily regulated to the point where most can’t obtain a firearm. In fact, there’s only one place in the entire country you can legally purchase a firearm in Mexico – and it’s in an anonymous building on an army base in the nation’s capital. Only 10,115 guns were sold there legally in 2015, while, for a point of reference, there were 23 million background checks processed in the United States that same year.
That’s quite the discrepancy – and Mexico’s gun violence is worse, much worse. In terms of raw numbers, we’re about on par with Mexico, with us and them averaging around 10,000 gun murders per year. Of course on a per capita basis that changes, as Mexico has “only” 127 million citizens, while the US has 154% more citizens, approximately 323 million.
Now, the thing about guns is that they can be used in self-defense to prevent non-gun homicides. When we look at overall homicides, it’s even worse for Mexico. In fact, last year, Mexico had the second largest number of homicides of any country after Syria, which is ravaged by civil war among Islamist factions. In 2016 the nation had 23,000 homicides, and on a per capita basis, their homicide rate is about 400% higher than ours.
Note the list above isn’t ranking nations from most to least violent. The U.S. isn’t even close to being the third most violent in the world.
Here’s another way to look at the data – homicides per thousand guns.
If there’s anyone that needs a lecture on their gun problem, it’s Mexico.
Granted, much of the problem there wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the drug cartels, but that’s hardly an argument for gun control. The citizens barely have access to guns and can’t defend themselves, while the cartels can obtain them illegally. Even Barack Obama’s ATF didn’t have a problem aiding them with that.
Share this story if you think the former Mexican president needs to mind his own business!