Mexico is one country that could really use a right-to-carry law

Mexico has always had a much higher murder rate than the US. But with the drug gangs even what had once been safe areas are no longer safe. With gun bans, it seems like only the drug gang members are carrying around guns.

They were aware of the dangers. Agustin Roberto "Bobby" Salcedo and his wife, Betzy, knew that this town, like much of Mexico, was no longer the tranquil spot it had been.

"I've been coming regularly," Salcedo's widow said Saturday of her hometown. "We knew how bad it had become."

And yet, the Salcedos ventured out for a few beers the night before New Year's Eve.

"We were just going out with a group of friends," Betzy Salcedo said, speaking slowly and casting her eyes downward. "You are careful, you look around, but you never think this kind of thing can happen . . . to innocent people. We were having a good time. Then we were in the mouth of the wolf."

Hours later, Bobby Salcedo was dead, hauled away from the bar with five other men, their bodies dumped in a dried-grass field on the outskirts of town.

Arrangements were being made Saturday to repatriate Salcedo's body. The 33-year-old, who was born and raised in the Los Angeles area, was an assistant principal and school board member in El Monte.

His slaying underscores the random volatility of the violence in Mexico and the ease with which the pain it causes can seep past the country's borders. . . .

Thanks to Ben Zycher for this link.