“Finally, a group in Mexico the Obama administration will not sell guns to.”I find it interesting that the photos at the linked essay are now different to the ones I remember from the first time I looked at it.
Is it my imagination, or were there originally photos of vigilantes grouping up and loading into trucks en masse before the trip to the other town, and that it was largely composed of mobs of guys in white t-shirts with .22 squirrel guns and single-shot hardware store shotguns? I guess that's not very narrative-y.
Also interesting: Unlike photos from Chihuahua and Sonora, the armament down there farther south seems notably devoid of the thumbhole-stocked semiauto AKs and obviously commercial ban-era ARs that the administration assures us are the cause of All Bad Things south of the border. Every AK in those pictures looked to be the real deal and all the M1 carbines and M4s most likely arrived in cartel or vigilante hands via Mexican .mil or LE armories. Looks like the Templars are not on the BATFE's list of Our Favorite Cartels.
In the earlier days the Self Defense Groups (SDG's) were predominantly atrmed with the .22's and hardware store shotguns 'cause that's all that came to hand, but like any good movement the can improve their lot. Too bad we won't air-drop a bunch of "Liberator" .45's to them.
ReplyDeleteThe Mexican "government" has some occasioanl success in disraming the SDG's - 'cause those folks obey the law; something the cartels and Mexican government don't regularly do.
Hmmm... go to the linked essay right now and there's ONE picture of a dead cartel guy with a 1911 displayed in the foreground.
ReplyDeleteChanging the pictures as seems appropriate? Whyever would the media do that...
Tangentially relevant, but long-ish (~18 minutes):
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYU25aJpg5o
sounds like the people have decided to take their safety back into their own hands.
ReplyDeleteGood on them.
I for one am shocked. You mean people can arm themselves, defend themselves, and restore peace better than a bloated, corrupt, and controlling government? Good for these folks. Take it back!
ReplyDeleteMy great-grandfather fled Mexico, because of the controlling, corrupt, government, and crime, that was more than 100 years ago now (about 1906). Just before he died, at 110 in 2007, he commented on how he'd made the right decision to come here. He was sad of what the country had become. I think he'd be happy to see Mexican citizens standing up for themselves and taking it back.
It's a shame that I feel like the way Mexico looks today is only a few decades away from how this country could look.
-Rob
I'm guessing these:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.businessinsider.com.au/mexican-vigilantes-battle-drug-cartel-photos-2014-1
are closer to the pictures you remember. I definitely recall a different set as well.
Just ran across this piece:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.businessinsider.com.au/mexican-vigilantes-battle-drug-cartel-photos-2014-1
The first picture of locals shows lots of single-shot scatterguns, and one bolt-action. Later pics show a wider variety; makes sense as Boat Guy notes, take what the bad guys have to expand your supply.
In the link Anonymous and Firehand provided, it shows one picture where the citizens are disarming the local police. Maybe that's where they got the more advanced weapons shown in later pictures.
ReplyDeleteInteresting timing. I read it as the Federales only came in because the local non-LEO were fighting back and so threatened the ecology of kickbacks. It wasn't until the local "fuerzas autodefensas, the groups of armed vigilantes that sprung up last year to regain control of their territory started to be effective that the army came in.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading a Jeff Cooper corner that said, and I paraphrase: "It isn't the gun, it is the man holding it that makes the difference."
ReplyDeleteAlso: "Beware the man with only one gun. He likely knows how to shoot it."
A guy with a single shot of .22LR at his command has to want to shoot his AR or AK-armed opponent for a real good reason.