With violent crime raging in gun-controlled Mexico, Senator Jorge Luis Preciado (PAN) is pushing a constitutional change that would expand law-abiding citizens’ ability to arm themselves for self-defense.

Preciado observes that “the Mexican Constitution already allows citizens to possess certain firearms inside their homes.” His proposal would simply expand that allowance so that Mexicans who have gone through background checks, finger printing, etc., may possess government-approved firearms in their “private businesses and vehicles.”

According to Fusion, Preciado’s proposal would allow “bus drivers, cabbies, truckers and other transportation operators to carry firearms to protect themselves, their merchandise and their passengers.” He believes the violence raging throughout Mexico is more than enough justification for making such changes.

He said, “We are in the midst of a very complex situation and we are simply arguing that if the State cannot protect us then it should at least allow us to defend ourselves.”

Preciado’s proposal has been heavily criticized by politicians who do not want to see changes allowing law-abiding Mexicans to possess the same kinds of rifles that were sold to straw purchasers during the Obama administration’s Operation Fast and Furious. These were the same kinds of rifles used in the Paris terror attacks on January 7, 2105, and November 13, 2015. As it currently stands, Mexican rules for law-abiding citizens are very strict. The University of Sydney’s Gun Policy center notes:

Civilians are not allowed to possess weapons of war, including automatic firearms, sub-machine guns, machine guns, .357 Magnum revolvers and those greater than .38 calibre, handguns greater than 9mm, rifles and carbines of .223, 7mm, 7.62 and .30 calibres, or shotguns with barrels shorter than 635mm or greater than 12 gauge.

Preciado rejects the criticism his proposal has received. He stresses that he is not pushing to change the types of guns Mexicans may own. Rather, he is pushing to expand their ability to have government-approved guns with them in more places for self-defense. He says critics “are arguing in extremes” by suggesting that law-abiding Mexicans would cause problems if given the ability to be armed to defend their lives and property.

It has been “more than 40 years” since anyone has tried to broaden Mexican citizens’ ability to be armed for self-defense.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.