We do discuss this in Massachusetts. I am asked at every doctor’s appointment if there is a gun in my home. We actually restrict gun sales. We also are home to two major gun manufacturers. And those who want can simply cross the border to New Hampshire to satisfy all their gun needs, few questions asked.
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I stand corrected…
Sadly, we are in the minority. I find the number of toddlers finding guns to be particularly discouraging. But I am a knee-jerk liberal. Hunt for food. √. Own a gun designed to kill humans? —
When was this? Sounds bad. I do want to see Yucatan though…one day I will!
When the violence was bad in Juarez and tourism died out, the fact was that nearly a million people in the greater metro area went about their daily lives without incident. The most violent, dirty, crime ridden place I’ve ever been was central Madrid, 1985. Violence is always relative.
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I’ve knew of two people killed by guns in central TX in the mid 80’s. One was the best man at my wedding and the other was my dive instructor’s ex-wife. I still go to central TX.
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It must have been a terrifying experience, but can I ask you the following two questions:
- Do you speak Spanish?
- Why were you carrying that amount of cash?
Some personal stories that have nothing to do with your experience, but that are telling about safety issues:
On my first backpacking trip I went to Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. People who have never travelled outside of Europe, told me to not go because I was going to get shot. I happily survived, and the next year went to Honduras and El Salvador 
.
When people start asking me about safety I always tell them that the only time my safety has been in jeopardy was being robbed in the Antwerp (Belgium) city centre. There I had taken to thinking of being safe anywhere at any time, and let my guard down. And to all my colleagues back then telling me I was going to get shot: The only time I have ever known anyone getting shot was in that same city in front of my door. But I am still happy going there.
Oh dear - first world problems 
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Since we’re sharing, I was within earshots of one of the terrorist bomb attacks in 2011. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Mumbai_bombings.
I happened to be at a Yoga class (from 6 to 7 pm) on Wednesday 13th July 2011 at Saifee Hospital. Saifee is not far from Opera House (less than 1/2 a mile), where one of the bombs went off. We were just finishing the class at the time. And I recall saying something like “what the hell was that?”. Apparently they bought in victims of the bombing to Saifee later, but I was long gone by then.
That’s the closest I’ve been to a terrorist attack. I don’t know anyone else who has been closer. Like others have said, it’s pretty long odds.
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Wow, that’s quite a story. Presumably the cops didn’t steal the cars themselves. Did any of this make it into the news?
Hey, easy there. I was implying no such thing.
This story is dated 1990, so this is not recent obviously.
One of the best experiences of my life was driving the length of Baja in a camper van with my BF in about 1992. The people couldn’t have been nicer or the food more delicious. The scenery and natural beauty is stunning. Part of the reason Baja was so uncrowded and untamed was the classic gringo fear of bandidos and federales, which discouraged Americans from visiting. No one, absolutely no one, bothered us or tried to shake us down for anything. They were the opposite. They went out of their way to be friendly. In fact, when our van got hopelessly stuck in the mud on a cliff 200 miles south of Ensenada, a wonderful Mexican guy in a pickup insisted on pulling two silly gringos out of the mud and refusing to take a penny for his help. So it’s a great big stereotype and profoundly unfair to say the entire country is a sewer pit because you had bad experiences more than two decades ago.
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It’s probably a first 
but I have to agree with Nutz.
Many years ago, we were with a group of Americans in Portugal on a tour bus about to enter the city center and see the Palace. All of a sudden, our guide and the driver began a frantic conversation. We were approaching a man-made road block with armed soldiers all around. They circled our bus and our guide, who spoke 7 languages, told us not to worry because we were Americans but to stay seated and be quiet. He was going to find out what was going on.
He came back with two soldiers and said they wanted to come on board and inspect the passengers closer. There had been a coup at the Palace and all the roads in/out were blocked. Several people had been shot and killed only a couple of blocks away. I could hear a couple of pops in the distance which I took to be gunfire though it was never confirmed.
Two heavily armed men came on board and looked at each passenger. When they got to me, they stopped. They spoke to the guide and looked in my lap where I had a camera. I could hardly breathe. The guide told me to show them my camera. He said the handle made it look like a gun. They asked if I was American and I said yes. I could hardly hear and focus on what was being said because my heart was beating so hard and the blood throbbing in my ears.
Reading @Robert_Dudley 's narrative caused that flashback.
Are we going to have to put trigger warnings on his posts?
hahaha ~ No warnings on his posts are necessary. Who knows when or what causes my memory banks to open their floodgates. I’ve had a lot of experiences.
Let’s see…there’s the time at the pyramids of Giza…and the near death experience on the trip up the Nile…and…and…
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The US is the country I would avoid. LOLOLOL.
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Well crime is everywhere. Pretty horrific things seem to be happening in the the US… Cleveland Ohio… in lily white neighborhoods. Seems to be the capital of sex slave houses… but I digress…
Mexico is just not your place. However, millions of tourists travel there without incident every year. Millions and millions.
But thanks for googling the baddest stories you could find and posting them. Good thing that WALL is going up. Surely we’ll be safer now.
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@konacoconutz is correct; bad things happen in the U.S. too. In fact, many people myself included believe that our asset seizure laws mean that police are driving stolen cars here too and using stolen cash and buildings, etc. Many of my guests had to overcome their fears to come to the U.S. because anyone here can have a gun.
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Time to write a memoir, perhaps.