There's a single loop hole allowed in Mexico for gun ownership(own a commercial shooting range), they're heavily Christian like the UK, but there's certainly gangsters. Maybe it's because the UK has cameras everywhere? Or maybe it's because America supplies the cartels with firearms that allow them to out-gun the government? Who knows.
I don't know how different Ireland is from the UK, but the big difference between Ireland and America (or at least where I live in Mass.) is that Ireland didn't hid realities. A taxi cab driver in Waterford Ireland asked me not to touch the bottle of Vodka a previous customer left in the back seat because he was going to drink it when his shift ended. That kind of thing COULD happen here in the states, but it wouldn't.