Is it illegal to own a sawed off shotgun in mexico?

Question

Only answer if you seriously know the answer. No stupid answers please.

Answer 1

yes, it is, i believe it is also illegal for residents to own guns, period, but i may be wrong!

Answer 2

Sawed off or otherwise, illegal in Mexico

Answer 3

Fair question, I guess if you wanted moral advice you would have posted in the morality category, so let's stick to business...

In Mexico, the law varies for the ownership of firearms depending on who you are, and it is controlled federally, so no need to worry about states generally.

Thankfully Mexico somewhat respects privacy in your home: having a gun inside your house is permitted for protection, if you get the just the permit (no license needed), but a shotgun is not allowed for this except the rural or sporting exception.  You cannot get a license to CARRY it unless you are Mexican  or an "Inmigrado" status.  A license can be personal or your shooting club's, but, the nationality criteria must be met.

First, all firearms must be registered without exception with the Secretary of Defense, and registered in the federal firearm register.  If it is not registered it is illegal and the penalties are criminal = for the shotgun, it is 3 to 15 years in jail.

Firearms are permitted by category of applicant.  The most basic category is the general category.  No shotguns are permitted in this category.

However, shotguns are permitted to be owned by people with a shooting or hunting hobby.  Also, fieldworkers, ejiditarios and cumuneros.  (people that work the land or are members of favored agricultural communes).  The classic sawed-off is not permitted, the shortest barrel permitted by law for these people is 25 inches (635mm).

Every non government employee with a gun must also apply for a license if they want to carry the gun anywhere except on their own private property.  This includes, get a background check at the police and have served in the army if they were obligated to (all males generally are).  And it includes transporting it to your property.

Only members in the Mexican army are permitted to have shotguns under 25 inches "sawed off".  The law explicitly says this.

One interesting exception to all this: for moviemakers permits can be issued for just about anything during filming if enough hands are greased, or, if the have unlimited patience.  So if you saw movies with sawed off shotguns made in Mexico, this is how that happened.

Firearm collectors are also allowed to own just about any firearm if it has some cultural value of some sort, under special circumstances this could fly - like if it was the one that Pancho Villa used....  But, they need to apply for a permit to purchase them first which is subject to approval by the secretary of defense, and then get the automatic permit to register it.  So can municipal, state and federal employees after tons of bureaucracy and paperwork.

Finally, only foreigners may carry a gun:

(1) who register as hunters on their visas and apply for permits may bring in guns subject to prior justification and approval for a temporary period when hunting, etc., is the purpose of their vacation.

(2) or if you are a foreigner but have "inmigrado" status (gained after 5-10 years residence and continuous paperwork), you qualify to get a licence to carry a gun according to the law.  Otherwise, no guns except in the house or on the farm.

Exceptions can be made under some circumstances.  No exception is really imaginable for a sawed off shotgun...but this is Mexico.  All you would have to do is buy into an ejido.  If you were to saw it off, as long as it was always on your private property (in the ejido), no one would probably know or care since the moral attitude in the US hasn't spilled over and people mind their own business.  Use it, and that's another story if someone gets hurt...But generally having a gun in Mexico is a liability if you don't live on a farm or ranch, because of the trouble you can get in - in situations typical of altercations, the guy with the gun is seen as the bad guy usually.  That's why, hardly anyone except criminals and the quite rich and well conntected have them.  It is just not worth the risk.  No one flaunts guns here for those reasons.  Machetes are cheap and quite effective.  Just make sure you need it for your job and don't transport it much on highways.

Best wishes

Answer 4

Why no stupid answers? It's a stupid question. I seriously know the answer and it is YES,it is illegal to own and/or possess a sawed-off shotgun anywhere in Mexico.

Answer 5

no its not illegal, go ahead and bring it if you want to spend the rest of your life in a nice mexican prison

Answer 6

Is there no limit to the idiocy of some of these questions?