The president of the PRI, Alejandro Moreno, proposes to change the law so that people can arm themselves in the face of insecurity

Alejandro Moreno Cárdenas, national leader of the PRI, during a press conference with other party leaders, this June 28. Moisés Pablo (Cuartoscuro)

The president of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Alejandro Moreno, has proposed this Tuesday to change the law so that people can arm themselves to defend themselves from insecurity in Mexico.

“We are going to propose modifying the Firearms Law so that Mexican families can more easily access access to larger-caliber weapons so that they can protect their homes, their businesses, their lives,” he said at a press conference. press.

The violence in Mexico has not stopped overflowing in recent months and the president of the opposition formation has used that argument to support his proposal.

The latest records indicate that May was the month in which the most homicides were recorded throughout the year and one of the most violent since the beginning of the six-year term.

In a clear criticism of the security policy of the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Moreno has claimed that "people are defenseless" in the face of the "lack of a State" that guarantees a safe environment.

"They come to homes, they come to businesses and they kill women, men, Mexicans who cannot defend themselves because there is no proper control and registration so that they can have that disposition," he said about the possibility of accessing high-caliber weapons. .

If the government cannot guarantee the safety of citizens, that families who wish to have the option of arming themselves to protect their lives and those of their children.

It's about time criminals know that people are going to fight back.

#StatusFailed pic.twitter.com/hMWuxA62d5

– Alejandro Moreno (@alitomorenoc) June 28, 2022

“The government of Morena [National Regeneration Movement] has lost control of the country, it is urgent that they change their strategy to recover it.

Its inefficiency, inefficiency and inability have caused the country to remain in the hands of organized crime”, he insisted on his Twitter account after the press conference.

The proposal has been harshly criticized on social networks not only by citizens, but also by figures from Morena.

The current Mexican law allows the use of weapons in specific cases that must be registered in the Federal Registry of Weapons.

The text is drafted with an approach that aims to "reduce the possession, carrying and use of weapons of any kind."

Only semi-automatic pistols and revolvers, both of low caliber, are authorized to be kept at home.

Some types of shotguns and rifles are allowed for field workers, only outside the cities.

And the high-caliber weapons are only for the use of the Armed Forces.

In Mexico, however, images of members of organized crime groups walking through the streets of different states carrying machine guns or weapons of war are common.

Last week a video went viral in which men dressed as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most powerful in the country, were seen displaying their long weapons and shouting "We're here and we're not leaving."

Despite the fact that there is only one store to legally buy weapons in Mexico, which is managed by the Army itself, the country is witness to streams of illegal weapons circulating throughout the national territory, mostly coming from the border with the United States.

The Government of López Obrador has indeed taken measures regarding the illegal trafficking of arms that arrive from its neighboring country.

The Mexican Administration denounced before US courts the main arms companies.

The court case had its first hearing last April, where the parties presented their arguments for the judge to decide whether the lawsuit filed by Mexico last year will be admitted to trial or not.

But the idea of ​​a lack of security policy has already penetrated deeply.

“It is about that in the absence of a State, there is no State to take care of Mexicans,” said Moreno, who does not have the full support of important figures in his party.

“I tell you with great responsibility, this Mexican State does not guarantee security for families, it is time for people and citizens to defend their home, their business, their block, their family, because they are being murdered with impunity” .

In May alone, 2,472 homicides were recorded, making the month the most violent in a year that accumulates more than 10,800 murders in the first five months.

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