Defensive Freedom in Mexico

NPR
By John Burnett

January 28, 2012
In Mexico, where criminals are armed to the teeth with high-powered
weapons smuggled from many places including the United States, it may
come as a surprise that the country has some of the most restrictive
gun laws in the world.

Law-abiding Mexicans who want guns to defend themselves have no
good options. Either they fight government red tape to get a legal license,
or they buy one on the black market.

After an outbreak of violence, one embattled community in northern
Mexico called Colonia LeBaron has begun to ask if it's time for the country
to address its gun laws.

A farming town about 130 miles southwest of El Paso, Texas, in the border
state of Chihuahua, Colonia LeBaron was founded by breakaway Mormons
from the U.S. who wanted to practice polygamy. Today, most residents
hold dual citizenship, speak English and retain close ties to the U.S.
A few still practice plural marriage.

A Community Arms Itself

The militancy of Colonia LeBaron began on May 5, 2009, when kidnappers
seized a 16-year-old boy and demanded a $1 million ransom.

Though he was released unharmed, the townsfolk came together and
formed an anti-crime group to take a stand against the rampant kidnappings
and extortion. Their leader was Benjamin LeBaron.

On July 7, 2009, close to 20 men showed up at Benjamin LeBaron's house,
according to his older brother, Julian LeBaron.
"They wanted to terrorize everyone into never opposing them," Julian LeBaron says.
"They dragged Benjamin out of his house, and [his brother-in-law Luis Widmar]
came to help him."

Then, he says, the criminals took the two men a couple of miles down
the road and shot them.

The cold-blooded murders of Benjamin LeBaron and Luis Widmar
galvanized the community, Julian LeBaron says. It prompted them to
take a stance that is familiar to Second Amendment advocates in the U.S.,
but one that is taboo in Mexico.

"I think there would be less violence if there were more guns, in the sense
that he could barge in here and do whatever he wants, knowing that this
guy doesn't have a gun," says Jose Widmar, the brother of slain Luis.

Today, if the gangsters return, the LeBaron colony is locked and loaded.

They have an advocate in their cousin Alex LeBaron, a 31-year-old
Chihuahua state deputy with national aspirations. He's a burly, baby-faced
politician who attended college in New Mexico and served in the U.S. Navy.
His own father was killed in a carjacking.

If Alex LeBaron makes it into the federal congress, his most passionate issue
will be changing Mexico's convoluted gun laws.

"We're Mexican citizens 100 percent, and we have the right to bear arms,
and we're going to keep fighting for that right as long as it takes," he says.

'Complex And Expensive' To Buy A Gun

Alex LeBaron and some friends have gathered at a nearby gun club to
plink away at steel duck silhouettes. Joining a sport shooting club is
one way to avoid the aggravation of obtaining an individual license.

Though the Mexican Constitution allows gun ownership, the government
severely limits that privilege as a response to the violence of the Mexican
revolution and to uprisings in the 1960s when students looted gun stores
in Mexico City.

"In the black market, it's very easy to acquire mostly American-made
weapons here in our country, but through the legal process it's ... very
complex and expensive," Alex LeBaron says.

A citizen who wants a license for a weapon must apply to the Mexican
military — a process that can cost upward of $10,000. Then they pay
to have the license renewed annually. The military further regulates
the caliber of weapon, how many guns people can own, how much
ammunition they can buy each month, and where in the country they
can take the weapon.

The government abolished the last private gun store in 1995. Today,
the only legal gun store in the country is in Mexico City, guarded and
operated by the armed forces.
"In Mexico, the laws effectively don't allow you to purchase weapons,"
says Dr. Oscar Urrutia Beall, a longtime member of the Paquime Shooting Club.
"There are some weapons they sell in Mexico City, but the paperwork
is difficult. Here, they won't let us buy a gun, but they let us own a gun.
It's an incongruity, a failed law."

A Gunfight With The Mexican Army

On the LeBaron family farm outside of town, workers pack red chilies
for shipment to New Mexico. The family also grows alfalfa, pecans and
cotton on irrigated fields bordered by the windswept foothills of the
Sierra Madre mountains.

The LeBarons now have a reputation of being well-armed and not afraid
to use their weapons.
One night, in October 2009, a gunfight erupted between the LeBaron
brothers and a squad from the Mexican army. The LeBarons claim the
soldiers came to the front gate and did not identify themselves.
Fearing they were kidnappers, Alex says, the family opened fire.
"In the middle of [the] dark, sometimes, it's better to shoot and ask
questions later," he says.

One soldier was killed. One LeBaron brother and another farmer were
charged with murder, but the judge ultimately dropped the charges
because the evidence had been tampered with.
These days, things have quieted down in Colonia LeBaron. Some people
say it's because of the soldiers garrisoned in town. The LeBarons maintain
it's because the criminals know the community will fight back.
If more communities were allowed to defend themselves, says Alex LeBaron,
Mexican organized crime would be on the run.

"I think Mexico's way past that revolutionary uprising point in our history,"
he says. "I think we're ready to come into the 21st century and be part
of this whole global process of modernization, and this is one of
them — gun laws."

Other Citizens Express Reservations

Do Mexicans want gun laws similar to those in the U.S., where buying
an assault rifle can be as easy as buying a beer?

Basilio Sabata Salaices is the mayor of the municipality where Colonia
LeBaron is located. "Here, guns are very restricted," he says, "but I
see in the U.S. many things happen because youth don't know how to
use guns. I don't think we should make it easier to possess a weapon,
as in the U.S."

Beto Renteria is a prominent businessman in Nuevo Casas Grandes, whose
wife was kidnapped three years ago and returned after he paid ransom.
"There are lots of Mexicans who have never shot a gun," he says. "It could
be dangerous putting a gun in the hands of an inexperienced person;
we could hurt someone."

Fernando Saenz is the leader of a citizen's militia in Ascension. The town
made headlines last September when a mob beat two suspected kidnappers to death.
Like many Mexicans in regions plagued by violent crime, Saenz owns an illegal,
unregistered weapon — in his case, a 9 mm handgun.

"Look," Saenz says pensively, "I think guns are not advisable. I think what the
government should do is put honest, well-trained people in jobs to impart justice."
If these three responses are any guide, the LeBarons' crusade to revise
gun laws is at odds with a certain cultural ambivalence toward firearms,
at least among law-abiding Mexican citizens.

Alex LeBaron is undeterred. "I have to stress very strongly that if the
federal government, the state government or the local government
cannot protect you from the cartels or any criminal groups, we should
be able to protect ourselves. That's the bottom line," he says.

Asked if the community is openly flouting federal gun laws, he replies:
"Yes. We have to."

The Mexican secretary of National Defense, charged with enforcing
gun laws, declined to comment for this story.
The director of a pro-gun website called Mexico Armado said there is
no popular movement at the moment to introduce more freedom into
the nation's gun laws. Perhaps, he added, that's because anybody who
wants a weapon in Mexico — be he a good guy or a bad guy — has no problem getting one.