Frankly, the drug cartels in Mexico are exceedingly well armed. I would guess they are buying their guns from American gun makers. They are, essentially, a standing army of dissidents and counter-government rebels. If a country has a standing army of dissidents to deal with, than the government of said country must rise to the challenge — arm it’s military, induct more men/women into it’s military forces and train them, and develop a campaign to wage war on its dissident armies, seek help from a coalition of other nations who have similar issues, and put down the revolution that is clearly at their door — IF they wish to retain their form of government and maintain peace within their borders. The state of Mexico has obviously not done enough of this kind of preparation to deal with its drug cartel dissidents, and it is not surprising that they are in jeopardy of losing total control of their government. The same could happen here in the United States, with the right elements of this kind of rebellion. For starters, we have a very well armed “nascent” standing army of gun owners here, also.