#923 – The Expat Files: Navigating Gun Laws and Safety in Latin America

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came out to play and now I wonder Hello there all you ex-pat wannabes. I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here. So let's get started Alright back in the saddle again after another really cool seminar great group really great group Small group so we bonded really well and with those smaller groups You know you become friends with those people for life as opposed to the larger groups and for me larger groups are 25 to 35 people

[00:50] Sometimes that can really get out of hand Because you know with those larger groups even though you're together a week You don't get a lot of facetime with every individual but with small groups We're upfront close and personal all the time Because you know the seminars are not just about having a lecture in the day and having boots on the ground in the afternoon Or whatever it goes more or less like this. We'll start out having breakfast together at something like 7 o'clock We have lunch and dinner together too, and then we're hanging out somewhere restaurant hotel cigar bar beachfront Poolside whatever till 10 or 12 at night, so it's never just a 9 to 5 thing We end up spending something like 14 to 18 hours together most every day Anyway, it was really a great group and already the comments and evaluations are coming in

[01:35] You have to usually start trickling in a couple of days after the seminar and here's the first one that just arrived No names here to Johnny and crew the week was amazing. Thank you. My very high expectations We're met and you are all just really great people I appreciate the other attendees and all the contacts we made too then she says to my seminar logistics lady Rita I'll send you a separate email tonight Communicating about my return next week, then she signs off with her name and says with gratitude So anyway another great seminar week, and I'm back in the saddle here again Now I have to admit when talking to some of the attendees one-on-one The subject of guns came up quite a few times of course everyone knows there are guns throughout Latin America But the question is can gringos and expats own them. What are the rules and regs, etcetera, etcetera?

[02:26] Well, let me first qualify this by saying up in the States I had quite a few guns not an arsenal by any means but I had a piece of farm Property north of Chicago think it was 20 acres with a house and a barn on it a little river running through it So I had my own place for me and my buddies to practice and shoot I went a long time ago before I even shot a pistol I had shot some rifles and shotguns before I went duck and goose hunting a few times didn't hit anything Which is probably for the best but before I bought and shot a pistol I took some gun training classes given by the local gun and sports shop, which is definitely the way to go I don't think anyone should own a gun until after they've taken some classes Anyway over the years. I've gotten so many emails about guns firearms what you can own what you can't

[03:13] What are the laws and restrictions like for gringos and expats here in Latin America, etc? Well, because there's been so much interest. I actually wrote a five-page report on it, which I'm thinking about updating in a month or so So I'll keep you posted Of course all the seminar attendees will get a copy right away But things have changed a bit since I wrote it so it will need an update in the meantime I'm gonna answer some common gun questions and lay some of this gun in for you right now So first we're gonna talk about Mexico why Mexico since I don't recommend you invest live there or spend too much time there Well, that doesn't seem to be stopping gringos and expats from piling in sure It's a great place to play if you book a trip to one of those all inclusives at Cancun or Playa del Carmen Whatever, but to actually live work and investor man

[04:00] You got to be nuts not that you can't find places that seem real nice You have to ask yourself what it's gonna be like 1 2 3 5 10 years from now face the facts It's not getting better only worse It never has gotten better in Mexico in the last 25 years every single year. It's worse We're talking about property crimes assaults misdemeanors extortion and kidnappings here And isn't it funny Mexico which has some of the toughest gun laws in the world is breaking records for crimes including homicides this year However, if you check the Mexican laws You'll find it's possible for Mexican citizens and gringos and expats to own a piece or two But the reality well I know many gringos and expats living in Mexico not a single one of them has a gun

[04:48] Though nearly every one of them wishes he had one or two or at least had the option to get one I know what you're thinking Johnny just said or at least I think he said I can own a gun if I'm in Mexico Well, technically yes, but it's a near-impossibility Because of the bureaucracy involved first off did you know that there's only one gun store in all of Mexico? One and it's in Mexico City So first of all in order to get a gun you have to go to Mexico City in Mexico's a huge country So for example if you're living in the Yucatan and Cancun or Tulum or even Tijuana It's a couple of days ride by car to Mexico City and the ride is Believe me. You don't want to drive at night is dangerous. So you're thinking well, I'll fly there great fly to Mexico City

[05:37] Do all the paperwork and whatever it takes get your gun and fly back to your townhouse in Cancun Simple enough, right? Wrong because you can't fly on a plane with the gun not even in the stone luggage Not that it's impossible But you'll have to go to four or five other government offices and get six or seven Document signed by different department heads to get the gun in the first place and then you'll have to go through that same mess To get permission to put it on a plane. Let's put it this way You'll be spending a couple of weeks in Mexico City no matter what in other words It ain't gonna happen. In fact, I don't know of anyone who's ever been able to do it That's not to say I don't know gringos next pass in Mexico with a gun, but they're all holding Illegally, so then what are your legal options? Well, if you can't get a gun at the store in Mexico City, you'll have to drive back to Cancun or whatever town you live in

[06:26] And like I said, it's a dangerous drive And believe me if you get pulled over by one of the corrupt Mexican cops and he finds a gun in your car And that's by the way, the first thing he's gonna ask when you roll down your window porta. I'm a señor He'll say that's the question. Are you carrying a gun? Porta means are you carrying an ARMA is gone And when you say yes, and you better say yes and show it to him and the paperwork You think that's gonna be the end of it. He's just gonna let you go Remember Mexico's got some of the most corrupt cops in the world Get ready to pull out some green or give up the gun get the picture But let's go back a second to that only gun shop in all of Mexico It's behind a fortress like wall on a heavily guarded military base, too And to get in the place, it's called the Directorate of Arms and Munitions Sales

[07:14] Customers must undergo months of background checks and six federal documents are required You got that six documents six different departments a couple of hours wait in each line You're talking about at least two weeks sitting around in Mexico City waiting for all that stuff to come through And for each of those steps, you'll have to pay a trauma at that door a person to handle your paperwork So you better have a lot of time and a lot of money because you're gonna be staying in a hotel, right? By the way, like the Second Amendment in the US Mexico's constitution guarantees the right to bear arms Hey ask any narco or adolescent kid with a neck tattoo They're all packing. The fact is the Mexican government bureaucracy has made it so difficult for anyone to get a gun They only issue around 35 to 40 firearms to civilians each day

[08:04] Now that might sound like a lot, but that's for the whole country meanwhile, the FBI yes, we're talking about the US FBI estimates that 580 guns are smuggled into Mexico from the US every day So do the math there are 15 times as many Illegal guns entering Mexico from the US as there are legal guns sold in the whole country each day So it doesn't matter if you're talking about a day week month or year 15 times as many illegal guns are entering Mexico from the US as are sold legally there There's something really fucked up about that. The real paradox is that Mexico has unprecedented levels of gun violence in a country where it's almost impossible for a normal person to get a gun and defend himself with

[08:50] It legally. Oh and get this according to the ATF, you know The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives more than 70% of guns recovered by a Mexican law enforcement Officials. Yeah, right Mexican law enforcement talk about oxymorons emphasis on the moron anyway more than 70% of all guns recovered by Mexican law enforcement Officials from 2011 to 2016 were originally purchased legally from gun dealers in the US and somehow made their way to Mexico Meanwhile you and I couldn't sneak a roach through the Mexican US border without getting caught By the way, did you ever drive through the US Mexican border or have you maybe only seen it on TV?

[09:36] It's a trip. They've got drug and bomb sniffing dogs all over the place. Meanwhile, according to the FBI 580 guns a day slipped through that border. Meanwhile, Trump's an inhumane jerk for trying to put up a wall Don't get me started So then what does it take for a civilian like a gringo or expat who's got his residency For example to actually get a gun in Mexico since technically it's legal Well, first of all, you must have an apostle birth certificate. No problem You need that for residency that should be easy to get and number two This is the big stumbling block for gringos and expats. You must show proof that you're employed so basically you can't have a legal gun in Mexico unless you have a job and you know collecting a pension or Social Security or

[10:22] Living in Guadalajara off the rent of some apartment buildings you have in Texas That does not qualify you as an employed person and of course left to prove you have no criminal record So wherever you're living in Mexico, you'll have to go out to the police station and get a document. That's called and to sedentes Finales, it's a local departmental or state background check cost you maybe five or ten bucks Plus if you're American citizen, you have to get that famous FBI background check Which involves getting fingerprints done and it'll cost around a hundred bucks. Of course You'll have to be a permanent resident of Mexico Then you'll have to go from line to line building to building and that'll take a couple of days to a week or so Of course, if you have a lawyer with you, you might be able to do it in one day Question is are you gonna fly your lawyer to Mexico City with you and pay his expenses?

[11:11] Oh and get this current Mexican law allows citizens one handgun and up to nine rifles But they have to prove they're a member of a shooting or hunting club So that's another thing you'll have to do join a shooting or hunting club Worse yet or crazier yet if you by chance are able to get a permit to buy a gun You can't carry that gun in public that requires its own separate permit and a whole different process That's equally idiotic redundant time wasting and retarded. Oh, I forgot you're not supposed to say the R word Oops, anyway as a result of this lengthy stupid Moronic retarded process all in this sincere effort of making sure firearms end up in the hands of quote moral and responsible people only

[11:57] At least that's what the Mexican gun store clerks will tell you by the way Everyone working there is wearing a military uniform and carries some rank in the Mexican military one of the most corrupt Organizations in the world, but you know that array, right? So bottom line, technically you're allowed to get a gun if you're a gringo or expat with permanent residency But you shouldn't expect for it to actually come to pass However, you go to any bar in Tijuana or Juarez Ask the bartender flash some cash and you'll be hooked up with the appropriate criminal within the hour So that's the situation in Mexico Meanwhile, they're in the top 10 in gun violence and homicides in the world now as for the rest of Latin America There are only two other countries where it's impossible for gringos expats even citizens born there to get a gun

[12:45] two guesses Cuba and Venezuela Meanwhile in Brazil a country who in 2018 had the most murders in the world They had something like 65,000 murders that year turns out more than 70% of those involved firearms Question is where the guns used in those homicides legal or not? Well, wouldn't you know it in 2003 17 years ago now a law was passed there that effectively banned Civilians from purchasing any guns at all Although the laws on the book said anyone could have a gun if they met certain requirements There was one particular statement on the forms you had to fill out that disqualified almost everyone and that statement said Please provide your reason for needing a gun if you said your neighborhood was unsafe or you were afraid or you needed self-protection

[13:35] Those were not good enough reasons However, if you said you worked as a security guard or you owned a business that dealt with a lot of cash, etc Then you could get a gun but that question pretty much disqualified every gringo and expat living in Brazil Because gringos and expats are not security guards and they don't have businesses with a lot of employees that deal in cash But however, since gun crime is so rampant in Brazil Just one year ago the new president Bolsonaro got into office and well surprise surprise He actually fulfilled one of his campaign promises. What did he do? Well, he had that question removed from the application process to get a gun So since about a year ago firearms in Brazil are available through an exemption Made by the president to urban residents of states with a homicide rate of 10

[14:24] For 100,000 residents or more and that by the way includes all Brazilian cities and as for rural residents in Brazil All they have to do is put on the form that they have difficulty accessing help from the police Then they too will qualify for a gun permit, but get this I'm looking at the registration form right now And it's translated into English from Portuguese It says after you've filled out the forms and received your firearm Registration and have bought your weapon which can take days or months it even says that right on the form You must then fill out a request for a temporary Transportation permit in order to bring the firearm to your home without this authorization It says you may be arrested for illegally carrying a weapon

[15:09] Even if you are transporting your own new legally purchased weapon from the store to your home Then it says you must take this request that has been signed and authorized to the nearest federal police station along with the following documents original copies of all the documents in the gun store original copies of the registration certificate a Copy of your proof of residence and then it says you must go back to the weapons store with the following documents your firearm registration certificate the temporary Authorization to transport the firearm to your home that you just received from the federal police Then it says you are now permitted to transport the firearm from the weapons store to your home But don't forget to buy ammunition as well and carry it along to your home with this permit

[15:57] Because you're not allowed to carry ammunition from the gun store to your home without that permit as well By the way that transportation permission slip is only good for that day Then it says you must transport the gun unloaded and inside a backpack or appropriate bag Whatever that is and in the open in other words not in your glove compartment under the seat or in the trunk Or it says you could be arrested for illegally transporting weapons After all that you still thinking about living in Brazil Alright, so you probably know there are 20 Latin American countries more or less Anyway, because often Puerto Rico is included because you know, they think they're a country out of those 20 countries There are four where you're gonna have an awful hard time getting a weapon legally

[16:46] That would be Mexico Cuba Venezuela and Brazil Of course, you can see by the Mexico and Brazil examples and the time it takes to get a permit most gringles and expats Don't even bother then again in the other 16 Latin American countries as long as you've got a lawyer You've got your permanent residency and you're not a felon. You can't own firearms legally I know many gringles and expats who do I own legal firearms in Latin America myself The fact is I've had them in two countries both Guatemala and Costa Rica now as far as how to go about doing it Well, you just go to any gun store with your lawyer. That's my recommendation He'll help you fill out all the paperwork and by the way on most all applications You'll need a Theodore or professional reference. We're talking about a local citizen professional

[17:33] Who's a character reference for you? That would be your lawyer By the way, your lawyer will pick up those anti-sedentes penalties for you. That's the local police report So in most cases once you've walked into the gun store You'll have the gun that you bought that day in your hand within two or three weeks Of course, I know a lot of people listening to this show are thinking I hate guns I don't even want to be near one I mean, that's the attitude of so many Americans, right? And that's your privilege But I find most all of the time when you sit down with a person like that and you get into a gun discussion For them, it's a moral question Some people just have that negative knee-jerk reaction And I find they really don't want to hear the facts and the truths about gun ownership and the real Non-skewed crime statistics and even when you lay out the facts and show them the proof they ignore the stats

[18:24] They don't want to believe them or just call it fake news But facts are facts and the truth is the truth even if you don't want to believe it Although these days it seems especially on the internet people have their own versions of the truth and what they want to believe Especially when it comes to hot-button issues like immigration Muslims Islam terrorism gender identity sexual harassment socialism national health care me to LGBT stuff millennials Bitcoin cryptos snowflakes Psychotropic drugs vaccines, etc, etc And to think that none of that stuff existed or at least it was on no one's agenda when I was a kid But I digress as usual because today we're talking about facts and truths concerning guns and violence So let's get into it. Did you know that in the United States in 2018?

[19:12] There were approximately 30,000 gun related deaths That's with a population of around 325 million in the state. So when you look at the math, that's point zero zero nine Percent of the population basically that's less than one one thousandth of a percent which mathematically speaking is Statistically insignificant. I know I know Insignificant except for the person or persons who actually got killed now in this discussion. Here's where I lose the anti-gun people It's when I get into the numbers. They don't want to believe it, but just follow me here 65% of those 30,000 were death by suicide and you know There are a hundred ways to kill yourself if you really want to When you're super depressed and you get to that point where there's a will there's a weapon

[20:00] In other words, strict gun laws are not gonna prevent that 65% from doing themselves in Then you've got 15% of those 30,000 gun deaths Attributed to law enforcement shootouts, you know in the line of duty justified homicide if you believe that and you got 17% of that 30,000 firearm deaths a year attributed specifically to gang-on-gang Criminal in the hood violence now you could go as far as to say a lot of those guys are mentally ill So that's a component to now you don't have to agree with that But if you think that people who make a living on the streets threatening people and shooting each other aren't sociopaths or aren't mentally ill You and I didn't grow up in the same world But back to the numbers you have 3% of those 30,000 gun deaths in the US in 2018

[20:51] attributed to Accidental discharge with way more than half of those weapons confiscated in accidental discharge deaths Attributed to unregistered therefore illegal weapons you've all heard the stories a six-year-old kid finds a loaded gun in the house next to uncle Leon's crack pipe. So anyway when you factor out all those percentages There weren't actually 30,000 gun deaths in the US that could have been prevented by making firearms illegal But closer to 5,000 now, here's what you didn't know in 2018 10% of all those firearm deaths were guess where in that title in town Chicago Yep, Obama's old stomping grounds where he was senator man Did he do great things for that city though? Not a single person can remember just what they were

[21:38] So anyway, Chicago accounts for about 10% of the homicides in 2018 the actual number of homicides 480 next in line after Chicago Baltimore with 340 that's six point seven percent of the national total number three on the list No surprise Detroit with 333 gun-related homicides in 2018 That's six and a half percent of the US total number for Washington, DC 119 homicides that's 2.3 percent of the gun homicide total in 2018 So when you look at the numbers strictly at the numbers the facts 25% of all homicides in the US occur in just four cities, Chicago Baltimore, Detroit and Washington, DC

[22:24] And what do all those four cities have in common the most strict gun laws in all the USA? And you know coincidentally those are cities that are all controlled by Democrats Democrats who just love gun control and believe me every last one of them would like to apply Extremely strict gun control laws just exactly like they've done in Chicago Baltimore Washington DC and Detroit Because they work so well there don't they oh and just a little bit more on the statistics thing If you deduct those four cities from the US gun murder toll You got around 4,000 gun-related deaths a year and that averages out to around 75 gun deaths per state But you know that's just an average and it doesn't work out that way for example, California with more than 15 times as many

[23:13] It's got a lot more people around 1200 murders by homicide in 2018 then you've got a state like Alabama where there were only two Homicides in 2018 and that's a gun pack and state Practically everyone with a garage a pickup truck a Harley or a double white as one or two So the thing is when you listen to the political narrative that's coming out of the states and coming out of the media like CNN, etc Why do you think politicians are trying to convince the public that it's a good thing to follow the example of Chicago? Detroit Baltimore and Washington DC Isn't it obvious by now that when you disarm the public you've got the criminals running the show man I'll tell you the aggregate national IQ is in the crapper. Wait a minute. I know let's put more fluoride in the water

[23:59] So you've got the public all dumb down as well as the media distorting the data Hey, you don't have to be a genius to see that the four cities with the highest homicide rates have two things in common Thoroughly corrupt politicians and the strictest gun laws, you know, you don't solve a problem by ignoring or not Presenting the data not only that people forget history or they don't care to study it at all And I do remember a quote from a book I read about World War two when they were interviewing General Tojo from the Japanese Imperial Army, by the way, they executed him in 1948 as a war criminal They asked him why the Japanese forces never landed infantry in California or Hawaii Tojo said they didn't do that because they knew that every American family had a gun and every kid a BB gun

[24:46] They could have landed all right It would have been easy, but they figured there'd be an American with a gun behind every blade of grass So they considered it out of the question. Oh and here's something My dad told me when officers or guys were issued pistols came home from World War two They were allowed to keep them bring them home So you got all these billions of servicemen coming home with their Colt 45 model 1911 Semi-automatic service pistols nice gun to designed over a hundred years ago Oh, and by the way, speaking of Chicago is being so dangerous You know, I grew up there in the 60s and 70s and in my little mixed middle and lower middle class white neighborhood Yep, it was lily white as far as the eye could see a mix of Polish German Italian Irish

[25:32] But no blacks or Latinos to be seen anywhere except sprinkled in at the local public schools But not in my hood because Chicago was really segregated back then and you know what when I was a young kid an adolescent There was absolutely no real crime in the neighborhood I mean none and I think I know why because everyone had a dad in the family Hey, mom and dad might not have gotten along but there was always a dad in the family and there were almost zero Divorces and when someone did get divorced man was that big news and gossip. So why am I bringing this up? Well, here's a little story that tells it all I was an excellent golfer the golf course was nearby and when I was 12 I won one of the championships for the city and one guy last name was Sharfinski big brute of a bully Played around a golf with me and I beat the pants off him

[26:19] He was a bully so he didn't take kindly to a younger smaller guy beating them in golf He threw my clubs in the creek. I came home all muddy and crying. I was only 12 My dad called up his dad, you know, even in big Chicago neighborhoods Everyone knows everyone or someone who could find out about someone through the grapevine, you know, three degrees Not six degrees of separation and within the hour a car showed up The dad got out with the kid and beat the crap out of him in front of the whole neighborhood I know I know I probably told that story before in greater detail But just remember everyone had a dad at home and parents didn't want their kids embarrassing them in the neighborhood Parents kept their kids in line, which is a big reason why there was almost no crime in my old neighborhood and why these days with over 50% of the homes not having a man in the house even in many decent neighborhoods a

[27:08] Certain amount of crime is constant and the days of leaving your doors on locked are over All right getting towards the end of the show now Just want to remind you I've got my newly revised Latin American health care report go to www dot the expat files calm Just click on the health care report link and find out everything you need to know about doctors clinics hospitals Insurance plans and more for expats and gringos in Latin America You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America If you need some help with your own plan B, we can schedule a one-on-one phone or Skype consult Just send me an email the expat files at gmail dot com And if you want to get on the waiting list for my next week-long expat insider seminar in Central America Where you're guaranteed to get a two to five year head start on your plan B

[27:54] Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com