Mexico City - U.S. federal agents could soon be working in Mexico with their service weapons holstered by their side after a hotly debated historic bill that has been approved by Mexico's Senate. The bill is likely to make its way into law.

A previous report said that the bill would change Mexico's strict gun laws and allow the Mexican army to provide temporary gun carry permits to U.S. federal agents and security details. The permit would allow agents to carry semi-automatic handguns and revolvers that can fire up to .40 caliber ammunition.

The measure appears to be designed to allow U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers to work in Mexican airport and shipping ports in order to pre-inspect international cargo as a measure to improve international commerce.

Last year Breitbart travelled to Matamoros during a visit by Homeland Security's Chief Diplomatic Officer Alan Bersin who had talked about U.S. agents carrying guns in Mexico. He said, in a similar fashion sometime in the future armed Mexican Federales could one day work in U.S. airports and shipping ports inspecting cargo.

As ironic as it sounds, Mexico makes daily news for its fierce firefights between drug cartel armies and Mexican authorities while the country has a very strict set of laws that make it difficult for the average citizen to have any kind of firearm.

The debate over the bill went on for several hours as Mexican senators argued that the measure would infringe upon Mexican sovereignty, Mexico's Proceso Magazine reported. "If that was the intention (improving commerce) the reforms should have been made to the Customs and Immigration Law and not the Federal Firearms and Explosives Law," Mexican Senator Alejandro Encinas was quoted in Proceso.