Mexico City exchanges 2,087 guns under disarmament program in nearly two years

Mexico City residents handed over 2,087 firearms through the Sí al Desarme, Sí a la Paz program during the administration of Mayor Clara Brugada, according to the city government’s second report.

The weapons were surrendered between October 2024 and August 2026 at exchange centers installed in religious buildings across the capital’s 16 boroughs. The total included 1,494 handguns, 425 long guns and 168 grenades. Residents also turned in 73,192 detonators or blasting caps and 130,997 cartridges.

The report said 1,339 people took part in the program. It listed 439 participants as women, or 33 percent, and 1,900 as men, or 67 percent. The figures as published do not match the stated total number of participants.

The program also exchanged 700 war-themed toys given to children for books. Authorities distributed 2.2 million informational leaflets and used mobile loudspeakers, information points at traffic lights, posters and banners to encourage residents to remove guns from their homes.

The initiative involved the Government Secretariat, the Citizen Security Secretariat, Mexico’s National Defense Secretariat, the Catholic Church, the Mexico City Council for Security and Justice, PILARES and the city’s Human Rights Commission. The government report said the program, created in 2019, promotes voluntary, anonymous and safe firearm surrender as part of violence prevention and peacebuilding.

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Since its creation in 2019, this action has contributed significantly to reducing the risk factors associated with possessing firearms, promoting their voluntary, anonymous and safe surrender by citizens, under the principles of prevention, nonviolence and peacebuilding.