 |
| Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum | Photo: Reuters |
The Mexican government is considering a new plan to help Mexicans disarm their citizens in an effort to reduce violent crime. The government is considering offering incentives of up to $1,300 to those who surrender firearms, including machine guns and assault rifles.
The financial incentive was mentioned in Mexico's official gazette published on Monday, saying that government officials in various churches across the country would collect the weapons from interested individuals.
The gazette states that 8,700 pesos ($430) will be paid for surrendering a revolver, 25,000 pesos ($1,200) for surrendering an AK-47 rifle, and 26,450 pesos ($1,300) for surrendering a machine gun.
Mexican President Claudia Schiffer last month urged her country's citizens to join the "Yes to Disarmament, Yes to Peace" movement, reassuring hesitant citizens that they would not be prosecuted if they laid down their arms.
President Claudia said the government is setting up centers in churches across the country to provide people with the opportunity to voluntarily surrender their weapons. People will be able to go there and deposit their firearms, and they will be given financial incentives for doing so.
The current president, Claudia, was once the mayor of Mexico City, a city of nine million people. She said, "We started this program in Mexico City and it has had good results."
Mexico is mired in violent crime, fueled by the multi-billion dollar illegal drug trade.
Preliminary data from Mexico's National Institute of Statistics shows that 31,062 people were murdered in the country in 2023. Of these, 70 percent were killed by firearms.
Mexico has strict gun control laws, making it virtually impossible to legally acquire weapons in the country. The government has repeatedly called on Washington to take tougher action to combat arms smuggling across the border.