Mexico's Federal Law of Firearms and Explosives » Publications » The Federalist Society
Mexico's Federal Law of Firearms and Explosives
Engage Volume 13, Issue 1, March 2012
May 17, 2012
David B. Kopel
Mexico's Federal Law of Firearms and ExplosivesIn recent years, gun control has become an important international issue. For example, some persons have claimed that the gun laws in the United States are responsible for the many homicides perpetrated in Mexico’s drug war.1 The Organization of American States has proposed a gun control treaty for the western hemisphere, which President Obama has urged the U.S. Senate to ratify.2 Currently, the United Nations General Assembly is drafting an international Arms Trade Treaty.3 In contrast to the Bush Administration, the Obama Administration has announced its support for the treaty.
Accordingly, scholars, policy-makers, and concerned citizens around the world are seeking to better understand the gun control laws in different nations. And of course Americans, who often visit Mexico, have an especially important need to understand Mexico’s laws.4
Although Mexico, like the United States and Switzerland, has a federal system of government, gun control laws in Mexico are set by the national government.
Part I of this Article is an English translation of the Mexican Constitution’s guarantee of the right to arms, as well as predecessor versions of the constitutional guarantee.
Part II explains the operation of Mexico’s gun control system, and provides some historical and statistical information about gun ownership in Mexico, and gun smuggling.
I. Constitution of Mexico
Like some other nations in the region,5 Mexico in its constitution guarantees the personal right to arms:
Article 10. The inhabitants of the United Mexican States have a right to arms in their homes, for security and legitimate defense, with the exception of arms prohibited by federal law and those reserved for the exclusive use of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and National Guard. Federal law will determine the cases, conditions, requirements, and places in which the carrying of arms will be authorized to the inhabitants.6
The above language is a revision of the 1917 Constitution, which stated:
Article 10: The inhabitants of the United Mexican States are entitled to have arms of any kind in their possession for their protection and legitimate defense, except such as are expressly forbidden by law, or which the nation may reserve for the exclusive use of the army, navy, or national guard; but they may not carry arms within inhabited places without complying with police regulations.7
The current version replaced “are entitled” with “have a right,” but the right is now limited to the home.
In the 1857 Constitution, there was an explicit right to carry:
Article 10: Every man has the right to have and to carry arms for his security and legitimate defense. The law will indicate which arms are prohibited and the penalty for those that will carry prohibited arms.8
The later versions, besides eliminating the right to carry, phrased the right in gender-neutral language.
II. Mexican Federal Law of Firearms and Explosives
A. Background and Summary of the Law
In the middle of the twentieth century, Mexico was a popular hunting destination for Americans, and Mexican hunters invented a new shooting sport. “Silhouette shooting”—shooting at metal silhouette targets in the shape of game animals—originated in Mexico in the early 1950s. Mexican hunters were looking for ways to sharpen their eyes between hunting seasons, and so began shooting at live animals which had been placed on a high ridgeline, visible in silhouette from hundreds of yards away. Whoever shot the animal would win a prize. American hunters near the Mexican border—most notably the Tucson Rifle Club—adopted the sport, but used life-sized metal targets instead—hence the sport’s name of Siluetas Metalicas.9
In Mexico as in the United States, civil unrest in 1968 led to important new restrictions on firearms. Before then, many types of rifles, shotguns and handguns were freely available. Anti-government student movements, however, scared the government into closing firearms stores, and registering all weapons. The rate of compliance with the registration has been very low.
The most important gun laws are contained in the Federal Law of Firearms and Explosives (Ley Federal de Armas de Fuego y Explosivos). The law establishes a Federal Arms Registry controlled by the Ministry of National Defense.
1. Types of Guns
Article Two of the Federal Law of Firearms allows possession and carrying of handguns (pistolas) in calibers of .380 or less, although some calibers are excluded, most notably .357 magnum and 9mm parabellum. Shotguns (escopetas) are permitted in 12 gauge or smaller. Rifles (same word in English and Spanish) are also permitted, in .30 caliber or smaller.
2. The Permitting System
Gun permits, for a one-year term, are issued by the military department of defense, SEDENA (Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional). The SEDENA subdivision in charge of gun licensing is the Dirección General del Registro Federal de Armas de Fuego y Control de Explosivos.10 In Mexico, the military plays a leading role in domestic law enforcement.
An applicant must belong to a shooting club in order to obtain a permit. If he does, it is straightforward to obtain a permit to own one handgun for home protection.
A person may, in theory, obtain a permit for up to 10 firearms. All guns must be registered with the Ministry of National Defense within 30 days of acquisition. Licensees may only buy ammunition for the caliber of gun for which they are licensed.
To apply for a permit, a person must go to the nearest military base. The military is legally required to issue or reject a license within 50 days of the application. A license applicant must be at least 18 years old, must have fulfilled any obligation of military service, must have the physical and mental capacity to use firearms safely, have no criminal convictions involving firearms, must not be a consumer of drugs, and must have an “upright” way of life.
There is only one firearms store, UCAM (Unidad de Comercialización de Armamento y Municiones). It is owned and operated by the military, and located in Mexico City.
Private sales of long guns are legal, but the buyer must register the gun within 30 days with the military’s arms registry.
By police fiat, possession of firearms above .22 caliber is severely restricted.
A separate license is necessary for the transportation of firearms. Guns in transit must be unloaded and contained in a case.
A special permit for collectors allows the possession of more guns, including military-caliber firearms. The military police frequently inspect gun collectors, to ensure that the arms are stored so as to prevent theft.
The grounds for issuing a carry permit are: a need due to occupation or employment; special circumstances related to one’s place of residence; or other reasonable grounds. A carry permit applicant must also post a bond, and must supply five character references. Farmers and other rural workers are allowed (in theory at least) to carry legal handguns, .22 caliber rifles, and shotguns, as long as they stay outside of urban areas, and obtain a carry license.
But in practice, carry licenses are restricted to the wealthy and the politically connected.11 In a nation of 105 million people, there are only 4,300 carry licenses.
Temporary gun licenses for sporting purposes may be issued to tourists by Mexican Embassies or Consulates. Mexican law provides penalties of 5 to 30 years in prison for tourists who attempt to bring a firearm, or even a single round of ammunition, into Mexico without prior permission. In the past, the law was enforced stringently, even in cases where the violation was accidental, such as a Texan who drove across the border for dinner, and forgot that there was some ammunition in his car.12 In December 1998, however, the Mexican Congress enacted legislation relaxing the law for first-time, unintentional violations involving only a single gun. Now, first-timers will be fined $1,000, but not imprisoned. The exemption does not apply for military weapons or prohibited calibers.
In Mexico, there are no shooting ranges open to the general public. Nor is there any public land for hunting. As a result, the only persons who can hunt are those who can afford to pay an outfitter, or are friends with a landowner.
The Small Arms Survey, an international gun control think tank based in Geneva, estimates that there are about 15,500,000 total firearms in civilian hands in Mexico,13 but acknowledges that the size of the civilian gun stock is very murky.14 About 5,000,000 guns are legally registered.
B. The Cross-Border Trade in Arms
Like the Fourth of July, Cinco de Mayo is closely connected to American guns. The French Emperor Napoleon III, after assuming dictatorial powers in France, began looking for more nations to rule, and so in 1862, he invaded Mexico. Although defeated at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, he eventually deposed Mexico’s President Benito Juárez. Napoleon III proclaimed the Austrian prince Maximilian von Habsburg as Emperor of Mexico. In northern Mexico, Juárez gathered an army of resistance. The United States was a crucial source of arms for the Mexican nationalists. They procured one thousand .44 caliber short rifles (Winchester Model 1866 carbines), as well as 500 rounds of ammunition for every gun. Inscribed with the initials “R.M.” (República de México), the Winchesters are now valuable collector items. They helped the Mexican people win the war, remove the puppet government of Napoleon III, and re-establish the Mexican republic. The victory is commemorated every year on the fifth of May.
Today, however, some American guns play a harmful role in Mexico. The United States government is currently providing extensive assistance to the Mexican government to help Mexico deal with the problem of violent narcotraficantes. At present, Mexico suffers from a tremendous homicide problem, resulting from Mexican President Felipe Calderón’s escalation of the drug war. From 2007 to 2008, drug war homicides rose over one hundred percent, to 5,612.15 While most of the fatalities are the narcotraficantes themselves—killed by the police or by gang rivals—innocent civilians and police have also been killed. As a Congressional Research Service report explained: “[T]he government’s crackdown, as well as turf wars among rival DTOs [drug trafficking organizations], has fueled an escalation in violence throughout the country, including states along the U.S.-Mexico border.”16
During the Clinton Administration, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) initiated a program called Operation Forward Trace.17 United States law requires that licensed firearms dealers keep registration forms (Federal Form 4473) of their customers. Especially targeting gun buyers with Hispanic names, BATF examined the 4473 forms for federally-licensed firearms dealers in southwestern states, and then investigated the customers. BATF paid particular attention to customers who had purchased self-loading rifles or low-cost handguns. (In late 2001, the Bureau’s name was changed to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE).)
A few months after George W. Bush became President, the Mexican and American Attorneys General unveiled a joint program under which Mexican law enforcement officials could ask the BATFE to conduct computerized traces of guns that had been seized by Mexican law enforcement. That program is now known as “Project Gunrunner,” and is operated by American law enforcement officials in Mexico and in American border states.18
Project Gunrunner has become part of the Mérida Initiative, by which the U.S. government provides extensive financial support to law enforcement organizations in the Central America, with the bulk of the funds going to Mexico. Most of the Mérida money is used to purchase equipment.
Another cooperative Mexican-American project is operation Armas Cruzadas, in which several American law enforcement agencies19 work with their Mexican counterparts to interdict arms smugglers. In addition, United States anti-drug programs are also tasked with preventing gun-running into Mexico.20
One more anti-smuggling program is a joint effort of the federal BATFE and the National Shooting Sports Foundation (the trade association for the American firearms industry). “Don’t Lie for the Other Guy” trains firearms store owners and employees how to spot “straw purchasers.” A straw purchaser is someone with a clean record who can legally buy guns, but who is illegally buying the gun on behalf of an ineligible person—such as a boyfriend with a felony conviction, or an arms smuggler.21
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