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Mexico may want to ask the U.S. to legally ban assault weapons, but neither nation has anywhere near the control over the flow of weapons to put such a law into practical effect. Unable to enforce it in its own country, the U.S. cancelled its ban in 1994.

The arguments for and against the legalization of assault weapons has been a running battle in the U.S. for years. The usual line is drawn between two adversarial camps. The National Rifle Association and its advocates are for a literal inerpretation of the Constitution's Second Amendment's "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed".

On the other side are anti-gun advocates, such as the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. They believe weapons such as assault rifles in the hands of anyone should be banned because they're easily obtained by criminals and turned on innocent citizens.

It isn't likely that the government of Mexico would ever even consider asking the U.S. to ban assault weapons. If it did and succeeded also in having the U.S. ban reinstituted, criminals in Mexico, the U.S. and anywhere else in the world would have no problems acquiring the weapons.

They can simply buy their weapons from international gun merchants who operate freely, and often with government participation, in such countries as China, Russia, Poland, Somalia, Iraq, Cuba and others. Additionally, some models of assault rifles, such as the Russian AK-47, are relatively simple in design, and easy and inexpensive to make. Some of the wealthier international gun merchants already have their own gun manufacturing facilities set up in cooperative countries.

The AK-47 and other basic assault rifles have become favorite weapons of the Somali pirates, terrorists and other illegal groups throughout Africa and Asia. It's impossible today for any nation to effectively enforce a ban on such weapons when they're so easily and cheaply available.

Can Mexico ask the U.S. to enforce a ban on assault weapons? Not likely, but maybe they can take a hint from what happened in Los Angeles several years ago. When a bank hold-up went bad, the two robbers armed with assault rifles and lots of ammunition came out to face squads of police in cars waiting for them. Before the robbers were killed after two hours, they had wounded a dozen people and shot up many cars. On that day, the police had only hand guns with them. During the shoot-out, they actually had to run to nearby gun shops to buy assault weapons.

Since then, all Los Angeles police cars are equipped with assault rifles. Maybe that's the solution for Mexican authorities. When the bad guys outgun you, go out and get better guns.

Learn more about this author, Ted Sherman.
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