Inside Mexico’s only gun store

Gun buyers sometimes wait for hours for their paperwork to be processed at Mexico’s Directorate of Arms and Munitions Sales.

A customer takes delivery of a hunting rifle at the Directorate of Arms and Munitions Sales. Mexican law allows citizens to have one handgun for personal protection and up to nine rifles, as long as they can prove they are members of shooting or hunting clubs.

A customer walks the aisles of the Directorate of Arms and Munitions Sales in Mexico City. Prospective buyers must present at least six forms of identification, including proof of employment, and have a clean criminal record.

Col. Eduardo Tellez Moreno, who runs the Directorate of Arms and Munitions Sales, said he believes gun ownership is a privilege.

Col. Eduardo Tellez Moreno points out the serial number used to keep track of a handgun.

Customer Eduardo Nieto Rodriguez of Mexico City, left, makes sure the serial number on a handgun he’s buying matches the number on his registration.

A Mexican soldier makes his rounds at the Directorate of Arms and Munitions Sales, located on an army base on the outskirts of Mexico City.