Mexico’s Crackdown on Guns

Joe Moody headed for Tijuana one day last fall for a quick shopping trip. But before making it to any store, the Oceanside retiree found himself behind bars in Mexico due to what he says was a simple memory lapse.

In the trunk of his car was a quick ticket to jail south of the border: a shotgun.

Moody, who was 76 at the time, said he had forgotten all about the gun, which he used to get rid of crows at a walnut grove he once owned. Mexican customs agents found the weapon during a routine search at the Tijuana border crossing.

“I never thought about that damn gun being in there,” said Moody, a retired builder. “There it was in plain sight. I wasn’t trying to hide it or anything.”

He was arrested on a charge of illegally importing a firearm into Mexico, where gun ownership is heavily restricted and violations can carry federal prison sentences of five to 30 years. For the next five days, Moody bounced from one jail cell to another, enduring foul-smelling surroundings and the heart-pounding prospect of a long stint in custody.

He was finally released without official explanation, but not before signing a promise to stay away from Mexico at least two years.

Moody, who said he will never venture back, was among 75 U.S. citizens arrested at the Baja California border on charges of having guns or ammunition in 1998. That number is more than double the figure of the previous year.

U.S. consular officials in Tijuana, surprised at the increase, have launched new efforts to keep Americans from inadvertently carrying weapons or bullets south of the border. The officials are teaming up with the California Department of Transportation on a publicity blitz in the coming weeks aimed at warning motorists that the weapons they carry legally in the United States could get them into deep trouble in Mexico.

The gun issue is receiving considerable attention all along the 2,000-mile international border. Mexican officials say that they have stepped up searches of vehicles from both countries to thwart gunrunning by drug rings and weapons traders. Last year, Mexican inspectors in Tijuana seized about 300 weapons at two border crossings and the city airport.

“The United States has a problem with drugs being introduced there from Mexico. It’s the same problem we have with guns brought from the United States over here,” said Jose Luis Rosales, deputy administrator for Mexican customs in Tijuana. “It’s one of the most serious problems we have.”

Though he didn’t drive into Mexico with guns, Newport Beach ship captain Scott McClung faced a similar crackdown. He was arrested last summer on charges of transporting two AR-15 rifles and three shotguns into Mexico when he brought his boat, Rapture, into the resort island of Cozumel for engine repairs.

McClung knew the Mexican gun and maritime laws and complied with them. He said he declared his guns, which were brought on board for protection against pirates. But a Mexican prosecutor ordered his arrest and seized passports from family and crew members.

McClung accused the prosecutor of soliciting a $10,000 bribe to free him, as well as his father and a first mate, who also were jailed briefly. After 39 days in captivity, McClung won his freedom and returned home in September.

The Caltrans effort, including more freeway signs, radio announcements and other attention-getting measures, resembles a campaign in Texas, where a confusing tangle of freeways in El Paso has been known to divert unwitting hunters onto a bridge into Mexico.

And the U.S. State Department in recent months has raised the issue with Mexican officials in an effort to prevent prosecution of Americans who carry guns without criminal intentions.

In addition, the State Department has been warning travelers that entering Mexico with just a single bullet, even if done unintentionally, can mean years in jail.

A total of 197 Americans were jailed in Mexico last year for transporting firearms across the border, according to U.S. officials. That number is up from 72 a year earlier, but diplomatic officials downplayed the increase.

“We can’t draw any conclusion from this. Hundreds of thousands of people cross the border every day. Statistically, I don’t think it shows anything,” said one State Department official.

U.S. consular officials in Tijuana say that the recent increase might reflect closer scrutiny by Mexican inspectors or simply better record keeping at the U.S. Consulate.

“We don’t think it’s because the Mexicans are out to get Americans,” said Lisa Gamble-Barker, who heads U.S. citizens services at the consulate.

Some of the arrested contend that they were unaware they had a firearm in their vehicle. Others said they did not know that carrying guns into Mexico was a crime.

“Sometimes we have people who claim they have crossed dozens of times with a gun in their car and never been stopped,” Gamble-Barker said.

Of course, not all who carry weapons into Mexico do so unintentionally. Southbound gun smuggling connected to organized crime is a growing preoccupation of customs officials on both sides of the border. Of nine Americans behind bars on gun charges in Baja California, one also faces a murder charge and two are charged with drug offenses.

Mexican law bans importing any weapons without permission from the Mexican government. The punishment is graver for those possessing weapons larger than .38 caliber, which are reserved for military use.

An official at the Mexican Consulate in San Diego said his government has taken pains to warn its own citizens returning from the United States not to bring firearms. It is up to prosecutors whether to move forward with criminal charges based on circumstances of the arrests, said Carlos Felix, Mexico’s deputy consul in San Diego.

“It’s a very difficult situation, because the law is the law. We have limits to our flexibility,” he said.

The severity of the Mexican gun laws contrasts with a looser attitude toward legal ownership of firearms in the United States. The opposing approaches show up most starkly, and with sometimes unhappy consequences, at the border.

Caltrans recently upgraded two warning signs on freeways leading to the border crossing at San Ysidro and plans to launch a statewide publicity campaign on the matter next month. That effort will include putting announcements on a special radio frequency near the border and inserting fliers with the Mexican car insurance policies sold by firms at the border. Officials also plan to install signs at freeway rest stops.

“There needs to be more than just signs. There needs to be a full public awareness campaign,” said Caltrans spokesman Steve Saville. “The message is: ‘Guns in Mexico: Don’t do it.’ ”

Moody is not sure whether splashier signs would have jogged his memory that the 12-gauge shotgun, loaded with three shells of birdshot, was in his trunk for a week before he and friend Betty Jane Fairchild drove to Tijuana on Sept. 26. (Fairchild was not arrested). What Moody does know is that his confusing brush with Mexican jails--reeking, overcrowded cells, scant and distasteful food, and guards seeking payments--was “scary as hell.”

Moody said his release may have been aided by his advanced age and by the coincidence that he reminded the prosecutor of that official’s own deceased father.

Also of possible help was a flurry of phone calls made by Fairchild’s brother-in-law, who knows lawyers and judges in Mexico. And, during several court declarations, Moody said he repeatedly apologized for breaking Mexican law.

He credited help from the consulate staff and said that, on the whole, he feels lucky. He met another foreigner who was sentenced to three years for carrying two boxes of ammunition.

Moody has some suggestions for new signs warning U.S. travelers against taking firearms into Mexico.

“Make it look impressive,” he said. “Put on there: ‘You don’t want to spend time in a Mexican jail.’ It’s pretty bad.”