Mexico to arm Mormon community anti-crime force

Houston Chronicle ^ | July 10, 2009 | MARK STEVENSON

[SwinneySwitch]

MEXICO CITY — Authorities in northern Mexico will give arms and training to members of an anti-crime group in a Mormon community after two local residents were killed by hitmen with ties to organized crime, residents said Friday.

In a step similar to deputizing local residents, members of the hamlet of Colonia LeBaron say authorities in northern Chihuahua state are helping them create a community police force.

"There are 77 residents of Colonia Lebaron who are willing to participate as community police," Chihuahua state Attorney General Patricia Gonzalez said. "We are taking the necessary steps to make them community police."

"They can work on serious crimes that occur in communities like these and coordinate with the appropriate authorities to investigate," Gonzalez said.

Julian LeBaron, whose brother Benjamin was shot to death Tuesday by gunmen believed to work for the Juarez drug cartel, said the local force is needed because of extortion and kidnapping threats by gangs, and a lack of confidence in local police.

Strict gun-control regulations in Mexico restrict the use of most weapons mainly to police and soldiers, although powerful weapons have proliferated the country through the drug trafficking business.

"We told the government that we don't trust our local police, because they're always on the payroll of the drug runners," LeBaron said. "They tell us that they'd be willing to train us to train people from our own community so that our cops could be people we could confide in."

No date has been set for creating the force, and state police and soldiers have been dispatched to provide security following the killing of LeBaron and his brother-in-law, Luis Withman, who helped organize protests against the kidnapping of a community member in May.

[SwinneySwitch]

"The governor is telling us that he can make it happen if we give him people that know how to use weapons."

[SwinneySwitch]

Ping!))

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[svxdave]

Since a government should exist to protect the community, I see this as a very good move. If the Mexican Police can’t protect its people, letting the people arm and protect themselves is the way to go.

I have a friend who left his Mexican town because it was lawless. If he would have been permitted to have a gun, he would be there still because, trust me, he isn’t afraid of a bunch of punk losers who can’t think for themselves and their only claim to fame is an illegal weapon.

[GovernmentShrinker]

My guess is that this group won’t require much training. Probably already have plenty of guns too, but not safe to tell the gubmint since they’re probably not legal. They’re descended from one of the polygamous groups that broke away from the main LDS Church way back when the latter banned polygamy. From what I’ve heard, few of them still practice polygamy, but few if any are “regular” Mormons either, so they wouldn’t likely be too submissive to the Mexican government’s gun laws.