Law-abiding Mexicans who want a gun to defend themselves have no good options. Either they fight government red tape to get a legal permit, or they buy one on the black market.

They have an advocate in their cousin Alex LeBaron, a 31-year-old Chihuahua state deputy with national aspirations. He's a burly, baby-faced politician who attended college in New Mexico and served in the U.S. Navy. His own father was killed in a carjacking.

 

If Alex LeBaron makes it into the federal congress, his most passionate issue will be changing Mexico's convoluted gun laws.

 

"We're Mexican citizens 100-percent, and we have the right to bear arms, and we're going to keep fighting for that right as long as it takes," he says.