Because trying to shoot it out with the cartel is a great idea.
The problem isn't getting the gun down there. People have done that by accident. The problem is that the penalties for unlawful possession of a gun down there are hardcore. If you're associated with the cartel you simply buy your way out of it. If you're a gringo you don't have that option and you spend a lot of time in a Mexican prison. If you do find yourself armed down there the longstanding legal advice is to throw the thing as far as you can into the ocean and forget you ever owned a gun. Replacement cost is a tiny fraction of the cost of being caught with it.
In other news, two Americans were killed in New Haven, CT over the weekend. Two more in Georgia. I'm oft fascinated by the human condition, and how people behave under various circumstances. People's inability to grasp perspective is a big one that I marvel at it all the time. People just suck at risk assessment. The reality is that the most dangerous part of his trip might very well be the drive to and from STL. Maybe developing melanoma. A rational person should be able to have a fine time in Cancun by simply following common sense.
That is all true of course (how many times have I recommended the book "How Risky Is It?" by Dave Ropeik, where he talks about exactly that concept) but to add to it, it's amazing that so many people DON'T see the connection between the above and the events like the Angel Reese/Caitlyn Clark episode, or the palpable thirst for vengeance we're seeing, the veritable GLEE, around the Trump episode. We've devolved into a society that just can't help/control itself. Just walk the fuck away, man. It's not that hard, and yet... it seems impossible.
The last THREE times I drove (I don't leave the house much) - to get gas in my truck, to watch Uconn at my friends house, and to pick up food for dinner last night - I got "the finger" from some driver. One of them - the Uconn game - I'll allow I might have been following a little close, as I was hurrying to get there. The other two - by way of example, my truck is a 2003 diesel plow truck with rusted floor boards and over 300,000 miles on it; I wasn't speeding and I wasn't tailgating - are more likely people who can't deal with a scenario that isn't their PERFECT scenario and yet who have a keyboard warrior mentality towards others. Add to that mix a preference towards "Fuck you" about the law, and you have a recipe for violence, gun or otherwise (that New Haven incident almost CERTAINLY involved at least two other felonies besides the shooting).