The Naked Gun

Too bad this photo is not about a comedy movie. It is the reality of Guatemala; which it seems to drowning under guns. As I said yesterday, Guatemala does not need guns on the streets; or anywhere for the matter. I don’t mean to scare you, but on May 1st, I set myself to tell and show the good, the bad and the ugly about La Antigua Guatemala. In other words, to be as honest as possible about this country and the things that I see and experience. I wanted my eyes to become windows for you to see through and my mind a big black board for you to read.

22 Responses to "The Naked Gun"

patsy poor says:
December 29, 2006 at 6:03 am
i really don’t know about the gun issue. i have read if you take the guns from the citizens it is the first step to dictatorship. i think it says something about the country if everyone is wearing guns in public and in the open. this fellow on the horse is saying. i have a gun do not mess with me! he also is carrying a knife. i suppose he would kill if he became angry. my family has always owned a gun usually a 22 rifle to kill a animal if necessary. so i just don’t know. by law you could carry a gun on you here like he has on him but you would have to apply for a permit.we have feared in this country for 30 years that the politians would outlaw guns and then here comes a Hitler!
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Lessie says:
December 29, 2006 at 7:14 am
I love the photo! Great shot!
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Donna says:
December 29, 2006 at 9:33 am
Does he know you are taking his picture? I am curious because I was told that you should ask all the time before taking a photo. But then I would think you might loose the shot (he would pose or something)?! I love your web site. I read it almost every day and if I miss a day, I be sure to back track and catch up! THank you very much!
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Luis Figueroa says:
December 29, 2006 at 10:30 am
Great pic indeed. And I agree with Patsy Poor.
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Marc says:
December 29, 2006 at 5:34 pm
Great picture. I remember when I first arrived in Antigua there was an armed guard outside a bakery. However, I never felt unsafe the two weeks I spent there.
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Juan says:
December 29, 2006 at 5:47 pm
In Guatemala, the cowboys and farm (fincas) owners carried them to defend themselves and their cattle from theives or “cuatreros” and animals. So authorities emitted a license to carry guns but doesnt mean u can kill.. but everything changed after the drugdealers started their businesses, the guerrilla time, delincuence, gangs, etc. Now a days carrying a gun is something really common (legal o illegal). My dad was from the military reserves and he used to carry his gun for defense. He never killed nobody ( i guess) but I remember he shot a guy who was trying to steal my mother’s car but keeping my mom inside the car..
You have to leave in my country in order to understand things like this.. you can get kill by a gang member just because u refuse to give him the cellphone.. THEY KILL YOU FOR A DAMN CELLPHONE! Imagine you come home after a hard day of work, and you find your door broken… when you go to your room, you find a mofo raping your sister,mother,wife,daughter u name it… tell me wut u would do? I’ll shot the moefuker… with no regrets..
having a gun is a great responsabilty. My father always said “dont take out your gun if you’re not gonna use it, cuz with the same gun you’ll die”
My country’s violence is a mess.. and you have to be prepared.. sounds really crazy “violence doesnt fight violence” but in certain situations you have to save your life or your family at any cost and I if die I will take one of those moefuckers with me… sounds gross but like I said, you have to live it to change your believes. been there, done that.
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patsy poor says:
December 30, 2006 at 10:50 am
i thought of something to tell you about our country. i am sure you know that New Orleans was floods a year ago last nov. but you may not know this all the people, mostly white got in their cars and left before the flood happened. left behind was the minumin wage earners and wefare people, mostly black. and the new orleans law or cops. you may not know this these people had no way to leave and there was 1000’s of them. there they were on roof tops no water fit to drink no food. and people dying by the 100’s. our goverment left them like that for 10 days. the reason i know the net work tv people were there taking photos every day. they had water and food they brought in with them and when the day was over they drove back out of that city. But the citizens who walked and tried to leave were turned back at a certain point. the New Orleans cops curtained off some streets and ran everybody out of these un floods streets. saying this is our streets.
Some of the citizens broke into a wal-mart store and got guns and bullets and started shooting at the cops. me i was for the wal-mart looters. finally after 10 days our goverment began a SLOW effort to get the people out of the city.they are still finding dead people in the ruins.i don’t think they would ever have done any thing except the media keep going on tv showing us what was going on.so i guess if you have a flood look for a wal-mart store for help. in this country that is all the help you will get.
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Rudy Girón says:
December 31, 2006 at 12:29 am
Patsy: I don’t believe there is a relationship between the lack of guns and dictatorships. If I recall correctly there were many guns available in Hitler’s time in Germany and that did not stop WWII or the Holocaust. The same is true for Guatemala, there have always been many guns here and there have been many dictators too; so what gives?
Lessie: Yes, we sometimes forget about the photo with all my ramblings. I like this image too since it is very good portrait of a Guatemalan Cowboy.
Luis: Thanks for visiting and it is great honor to have a comment from you. Luis Figueroa, for those who don’t know him, is a columnist for Prensa Libre, Guatemala’s largest newspaper and a great reference.
Marc: You are right about the guns; it can be shocking to see them everywhere, including bakeries as you mentioned.
Juan: Normally I don’t allow expletives in the comments, since I myself do not use them in the entries. I will allow your comment with expletives to show your frustration. But, please, you are very welcome to comment, but leave the swearing outside.
Patsy: I saw a very good and long documentary about New Orleans after Katrina. The whole deal and Bush’s administration and federal response to this catastrophe was a shame to say the least.
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Luis Figueroa says:
December 31, 2006 at 8:32 am
Cheers!
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Juan says:
December 31, 2006 at 12:16 pm
perdon! not only my english is bad , but also I learned it by myself and it was a full package (With bad words included) so thank you to keeping my comment and for having an open mind to allow my frustration enlight others.
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Meg says:
December 31, 2006 at 4:52 pm
Guns and other weapons have one purpose, to kill and maim.
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Marco says:
January 2, 2007 at 5:54 pm
Being a revolutionary (at heart anyway). It is difficult to comment on this gun issue. Unfortunately in an environment where corruption plagues the government agencies that are supposed to protect us, and where they carry big guns and lots of them, the good people are sandwiched between them and the the illegal drug/other dealers. Lets not mention the land owners and their hench men! It is a necessity that if I owned a business or carried out some kind of money exchange on a regular basis, that I would want to protect it, my family, and myself. Having said that, the cowboy in the photo feels the need to carry a gold watch and a thick gold ring. I guess if you’re going to have to do that in Guatemala, then it goes without saying the gun is a given. Best regards for the New Year!
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Roberto says:
February 15, 2007 at 4:12 pm
This guy is not a local from Antigua, have your noticed?
Any way, my guess is he is a goverment security or so, buy for sure he is not a local, I been living in Antigua for 35 years and it’s not legal for a civil person to carry a gun. I’m telling you for personal experience.
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whynot says:
June 10, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Why shouldnt he be able to carry a gun? If man wants to kill another man, he will choke him, or stab him, or throw him over, he will kill him. but if a man takes your wife, because he is a thief with a gun, and rapes her with you at gunpoint, and you have nothing but youir bare hands, you will surely cry. I hope to settle down soon, somewhere, and have my gun, so that no one messes with my kids and wife, and if you dont belive it your own right to protect your family thus, you are lacking something of the human spirit, and I wish you away from this world.
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Rudy says:
June 10, 2007 at 6:49 pm
Whynot, thanks for the nice wishes. You must not live in a civilized society or little concern for the dangers of a weapon.
My wish for you is that you never have to use the gun and that this gun of yours never used against you or your love ones. I wish you the safety and peace that we lack here in the ‘third world’.
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The Armed Citizen says:
July 8, 2011 at 2:06 am
To the Journalist writing & posting this article my question is: Who ARE you?! People like you remind me of dictators! You people with your thought process & lust for control disguised in a hypocritical veil of “peace.” You people are the ones that I truly worry about. NOT the law-abiding citizen who open-carries or conceal carries. The law-abiding citizen who went through all of the legal procedures to attain a gun & gun permit, that’s who I do NOT fear. Despite what you dictators & control freaks who are against anyone’s right to defend themselves, & totally against our way of life & our Constitution–YOU liberal control freaks are the ones I worry about. All nations that became violent dictatorships or otherwise started with the good ‘ol, turn in your guns or, even better, anyone caught with a firearm will be shot by our government. I believe that these “peaceful” anti-gun idiots, ahem, I mean advocates would love to see lawful citizens shot while the government takes our guns. Sounds crazy right?
Studies upon studies show, here in U.S. cities & other countries, that tougher gun control laws always increase violence usually committed by criminals who can get guns in the black market i.e. corrupt law enforcement & military personnel. But these anti-gunners are so blind they don’t see things clear. Who gives them the right to dictate (get it? Dictate?) when, where, & how I can defend & protect myself, my family, my friends or just someone in distress? Oh, and if you don’t believe me that tougher gun control law states don’t work, look up violent crime stats in the gun ban states vs. states which allow open/conceal carry. The fact is that if criminals know that they may find themselves met with the same deadly force they wish to impose when they’re executing their crimes, they almost always opt towards the path of least resistance. In other words; criminals will not confront, break-in, attempt to rob or try anything with against someone who they think is armed. Most just want things the easy way, that’s why they’re criminals. To vote or advocate gun bans or gun control is like saying: We are for the criminal. We want to provide an easier safer way for criminals to commit their crimes against lawful, hardworking American citizens. It’s a fact! Oh, and for those who believe in peace, turn the other cheek, whatever. Violent criminals laugh at the thought, they live for that very moment. The path of least resistance. Even Ghandi who was a peacful activist understood the importance of a citizens right to protect themselves by saying:
“Among the many misdeeds
of the British rule in India, history will look
upon the Act
depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest.” —
Mahatma Gandhi.
Here’s what another notoriously famous person thought about guns, perhaps those of you who want gun bans & tigher control can really relate to this person & can even admire him, being that you both have the same thoughts on guns. Here’s what he thought & said:
“The most foolish mistake we
could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess
arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed the subject
races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing.
Indeed, I would go so far as to say that the supply of arms to the
underdogs is a sine qua non for the overthrow of any sovereignty.”
— Adolf Hitler
Here’s what a famously dangerous Mafia hitman had to say about gun control:
“Gun control? It’s the best
thing you can do for crooks and gangsters. I want you to have
nothing. If I’m a bad guy, I’m always gonna have a gun. Safety locks?
You’ll pull the trigger with a lock on, and I’ll pull the trigger.
We’ll see who wins.” — Sammy “The Bull” Gravano,
Mafia hit man
So…who would you rather have a gun if you’re in a public place & some lunatic with a gun enters your area & indiscriminately starts shooting? Or if your in a store & some gangbangers come in to rob the place? If you don’t believe in carrying a gun for self-protection then you’re pretty much “F-ed.” So, again, would you not rather no one be armed in that very instance? Just the gunman or the robber? Or would you NOW be open to have a faithful, law-abiding citizen who has experience at the gun range & is brave enough to put his life on the line for you and I to stand up and save us all? I think as we wait in horrific fear for the police to show, if anyone dares to use their cellphone to make that call, I would like to have a citizen take the violent criminal out than to sit there in fear & think that this may be the last day of my life. I’ve been through this very incident and am alive to talk about it. Next time you argue against honest citizens with guns, think about it. You may be in dire need of a conceal carrying citizen to save the life of you and your loved ones.
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John says:
July 29, 2012 at 11:09 pm
In the U.S., it has been proven that crimes goes down as legal firearm ownership increases. Criminals generally avoid opposition. I have no problem with a trained & licensed adult carrying a holstered pistol for protection.
Concealed carry: I would use an open top, covered trigger, belt holster worn under a loose shirt. Visible carry: I would use a duty holster with a thumb or finger released retention device. He is going to regret it when he has an accidental discharge.
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