Southern Neighbor Goes Rightby Larry PrattFor at least two years, Panamanian gun owners had to live with thethreat that the socialist government of Martin Torrijos (son of thelate dictator) was going to impose a George Soros-inspired backdoorgun ban. The Soros gun ban comes advertised as a licensing scheme which meansthat gun ownership is illegal unless you get special permission fromthe government. Getting that permission is the problem. By simplydelaying processing of applications and renewals, the clock runs outand before long, nobody has a legal gun.This kind of law can be very effective at disarming the public. Ifirst saw a law like this on the books and in use in South Africa. Panamanian shooters actively opposed the measure. At one point Iaddressed a forum they organized to dramatize the problems with thebill and the threat to safety that it presented. Happily, theChavez-backed candidate (to succeed Torrijos) in the elections lastMay got her clock cleaned, and the threat of the bill ended with thesocialist government.The winner, Ricardo Martinelli, is a wealthy businessman -- as is hisvice president Juan Carlos Varela. To set the anti-graft tone of theiradministration, Martinelli announced at his inauguration that theywould be donating their salary to a charity that would be building amedical clinic in the interior of the country. "We might stick ourfoot in our mouth in my administration," he said, "but we willnot be sticking our hand in the till."The two official inaugural celebrations that feted some 10,000 peoplecombined were paid completely from private funds, starting with thosefrom Martinelli's own pocket.Martinelli also announced a truly transformational reform. As in agreat deal of the world, many rural landholdings have no cleartitles, hence loans are unavailable for the owners. I have seen thisreform carried out in Guatemala and in El Salvador, and the result isa fiercely anti-socialist group of rural voters. Memo to Chavez: inPanama, many of those voters already own guns.During the administration's first day, the education ministerannounced that she would not allow an association of professors to berecognized as a union. The same day, Martinelli announced that abankrupt banana-workers' cooperative that had been gettingsubsidies from the socialist government would now be on their own.Sink or swim -- in the private sector. At an inaugural mass specially called for by Martinelli, the sermonwas preached by the Bishop of Panama. It sounded like one of ourcolonial election sermons. The bishop urged the people to pray fortheir new leaders that there might be peace in the land. He thenchallenged the politicians who were present to never separate theirChristian values from their politics lest the country lose itsculture of respect for life and protection of the family.With the legally deposed thug from Honduras (former President MelZelaya, a Chavez ally) sitting some twenty feet from him on thestage, Martinelli announced that his election represented a challengeto the far left wing in Latin America. He added that he intends tomake Panama the best place in Latin America to do business. That is change that I can believe in. ---Larry Pratt is the Executive Director for Gun Owners of America, anational gun lobby with over 300,000 members. GOA is located at 8001Forbes Place, Springfield, VA 22151 and at http://www.gunowners.orgon the web.