Home Defense in Mexico: you pick... .38 spl. or .380?

[Zoogster]

Pick a better country to live in.

But but the dollar goes so far! I would sell my soul to live where I can purchase more material possessions. (sarcasm)

Some people value rights, and being a free person. Others value being able to buy more when they retire, but having few rights.

I am glad I was born in the USA. If I had been born in Mexico I would have either joined the federales or organized crime. It is really the only way to live as a semi free man in that country.

That said the gun culture is alive and well in Mexico. Though illegal arms are far more mainstream. They may not take them out and show gringos, but there is a national pride in a revolutionary culture that lends itself to encouraging illegal arms possession.
The law in Mexico has quite a bit less respect by the average citizen than in America. The law is something people try not to get caught breaking, but breaking it is culturaly acceptable for many things. That is for citizens though. Foriegners are held to a higher standard. If you are a white foriegner you will not get away with much, and even when not doing anything wrong you have a big target that says money to both police and criminals. Each will try to relieve you from it in slightly different ways.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

There is nothing you could say that would make me want to visit let alone live in Mexico. They have a lot of sweet crude oil, big game tourist fishing business, several large resorts on 2 different coasts and other legal exports yet most of their people are poor. The Government corruption is terrible, the drug lords run the country and the people have no rights. Don't tell me I'm wrong either, just ask the over 12 Million people who left Mexico to live in the USA illegally. The Mexican Government exports their poverty to the USA and the American taxpayers have to foot the bill.

Sorry if anyone is offended by the truth, get over it!

 

[tipoc]

Home Defense in Mexico...move to the U.S.

Pick a better country to live in.

That said I can't stand Mexico (their government and way of doing things) for a variety of reasons (armed soldiers searching your car with out cause or warrent is one of them among many) and would never live there.

I don't care where you want to live, what makes you think I would? Good luck finding a place where cops don't search a car though.

The mere mention of folks from the U.S. moving to Mexico seems to strike fear into the hearts of a few here. Scared to death of Mexico and Mexicans or even visiting. The less they know about Mexico the more fearful they are and it's apparent that a few here don't know a lot and don't wanna know much more.

Ignorance its no sin but being proud and boastful of it is.

Their Uncle Buck told 'em "I went to Mexico (by which they mean Tiajuana) got drunk, acted a fool, insulted folks, puked up in the street, got in a fight and then the cops had the gall to arrest me and throw me in a stinking jail. Never go to Mexico son!" Years later the story is their Uncle got arrested for nothing in Mexico and the cops stole their money.

Get up off your scared prejudiced behinds and go visit. Learn something or not.

What to use for home defense in Mexico? Here's an idea...Ask a Mexican or someone who lives or has lived there! That's too simple though. Better to ask a bunch of folks who pee themselves at the thought of going to Mexico. Or who have more knowledge of the surface of the moon than of Mexican history or it's peoples.

Any value this thread may have had seems to have drained out of it a while back.

tipoc

 

[Moonclip]

There are areas of Mexico that I'd feel safer living in than areas of the USA. As I mentioned earlier, many, maybe 1-2 million US citizens IIRC live in Mexico.

 

[Zoogster]

I have spent a bit of time in various parts of Mexico. Some places are real bad, some places are fancy resorts. Others are peaceful local towns.

The difference is the rights a person has, and a pervasive sense that some level of corruption is just normal in most of society.
Some places it is blatant street level acceptable harassment. Yet in others that is crude and unacceptable and it only means less public funds actualy make it to the city and state projects they are budgeted for as 'respectable' people pocket a bit here and there. That is part of the culture in my experience, just a perk of getting to those positions. After all, its for the family anyways. They deserve a little something extra sometimes



The difference between many rights, and few rights, is hardly noticed by most during thier day to day activities. It is when there is an abuse and you have little recourse, or thier is problems that you realize the subtle difference people fight and die for.

China can be a pleasant place to visit, with polite people and polite police officers. The people can be helpful and charming, and you could say it was a wonderful place based on that.
Yet it is definately not.


The difference between having rights and not having rights means little to the average person 95% of the time. Out of the remaining 5% of the time, 4.9% is just an invonvenience. That last .1% though, thats when you really will realize, maybe too late, just how nice having rights 100% of the time is. When you realize giving up any of them at any time even just on occasion is unacceptable.

 

[Silvanus]

I would get a Glock 25. 9mm kurz is far better than throwing rocks

 

[tinygnat219]

I'd get the Beretta Model 84. It's got a capacity for 13 .380 rounds.

 

[gallo]

I can't believe this thread is still alive especially because of all the silly rants made by some of our more " enlightened" members.

Like a Spanish friend of mine once told me, "la ignorancia no conoce verguenza." This translates to ignorance knows no shame. Mexico may not be the best place to live for some, but to judge it from what CNN and Fox show, well that's pretty small minded.

 

[DHart]

It's been an interesting thread, that's for sure. Thanks for the thoughts. I found some spots in Mexico to be ripe with police looking for pay offs from americans (Cancun) and other places feeling wonderfully easy going and remarkably peaceful (Valladolid, Merida, and some of the quiet villages around there). I can see how Mexico could seem like heaven to some and hell to others. A place of many fascinating contrasts.

As for calibers, I think .45 acp and .38 super are definitely illegal for general citizens (not to say that many don't own them). And the practicality of reloading there and ready availability of awesome factory defense ammo is very, very poor. If you want to be legal, I think .38 spl. or .380 auto are as good as it gets. I'd probably have a couple of 3" S&W .38 revolvers, and a couple of semi-auto .380s with high caps. And a 23" 12 gauge or two.

I don't know enough about Mexico (yet) to say I'd definitely move there, but I do know enough about it to say that I'm open to the idea.

Now I want to visit Monterrey. From what I've heard it is the most prosperous, most educated, most sophisticated city in Mexico and just a couple hour's drive from Texas. It would seem to be a very interesting city to visit in Mexico.

 

[gallo]

Monterrey was recently ranked the most violent city in Mexico because of a wave of drug related disputes among different waring bands. Nonetheless, it is the most business oriented city in Mexico following closely US business practices and customs. It's a very interesting city with lots of night life and cultural events to attend. It has good museums and natural attractions such hiking in the mountains that surround it. Universal precautions as I wrote earlier will keep you safer than any gun in that type of environment. Please tell us how your trip goes.