No cash rewards or fines – Mexico has committed to exchanging guns for household appliances, and the result will surprise you

Throughout the last few weeks, in Mexico City or more recently in towns in the states of Hidalgo and Chiapas, lines of people armed with revolvers, shotguns, rifles, cartridges, and bullets have been organized. They are not military. Nor traffickers. Nor police. In the queues, you can see all kinds of citizens, from men with their children to the elderly, ladies, and young people. They all do the same thing: they wait their turn patiently in front of a tent occupied by the military with their weapons or ammunition under their arms.

Mexico has committed to exchanging guns for household appliances

That is a strange barter, but that is just what happened this Monday in the town of Tapachula, which is located in Chiapas, on the southern border of Mexico. Army officers set up a collection site at the Municipal Palace for citizens who wished to surrender their firearms in exchange for a reward.  And what? In this instance, domestic appliances, according to the EFE agency. One young man who disposed of a .38 caliber pistol was the first to take part. Although it is unknown what he received in return, pictures from the ceremony show that several crates containing coffee makers or blenders are heaped on the government-erected stand.  

The event in Tapachula is the beginning of a campaign to collect explosives, weapons, and ammunition that will continue until Saturday in other municipalities of Chiapas, including Metapa and Mazatán in Mexico. To destroy them, or at least to remove them from the streets. In reality, at the Tapachula post, it was evident that the army soldiers immediately rendered the .38 caliber revolver worthless. But the ultimate goal is more ambitious: Sheinbaum wants to rid Mexico’s homes (and streets) of thousands of revolvers, rifles, ammunition, and explosives to fight crime, violence, and insecurity, as well as accidents.

Guns represent death and violence. “We do not want any family to have a gun at home,” declared the Mexican president in January, when she presented the “Yes to Disarmament, Yes to Peace” campaign. Rosa Ila, the Secretary of the Interior, went further in her discussion of the campaign, making it clear that every weapon received is less than one crime or injury. The Mexican government has used two powerful trump cards to persuade people to remove the handguns, rifles, and cartridges they may have kept in their closets, sometimes for years, and as a result of inheritance. As demonstrated this week in the state of Chiapas, the other is the prize, which might be in the form of cash or household items.

One of the primary messages of the ‘Yes to Disarmament, Yes to Peace’ campaign is that residents can dispose of their guns, bullets, and explosives without having to explain why or fearing that the exchange will result in an investigation into their origin. The collection of weapons will be dependent on the population’s voluntary and anonymous attendance at the exchange module, with no legal implications for possessing guns, according to the Mexican Executive’s laws. Although the government insists on the advantages of the program for the population, those who participate directly have been offered a more tangible reward: money. 

As reported by El País, the General Secretariat of the Interior of Mexico has set certain amounts that are applied according to the characteristics of the weapon, its model, caliber, or useful life. Exchanges can reach up to 26,450 pesos, slightly more than 1,200 euros. In the case of a grenade, the expected payments range between 12 and 70 dollars. At other times, the guns and pistols are traded for various household items. This was observed a few days ago in the state of Hidalgo, namely in the municipalities of Mexico Progreso de Obregón and Tapachula. Recently, the Ministry of National Defense posted images to its X profile that depicted a soldier distributing parcels containing various equipment, such as toasters and irons.

The program attempts to spread a message to the next generation of Mexicans and has an educational component as well. Children traded “warlike” toys, like plastic guns, for toys without that meaning at the campaign’s presentation in Mexico. The goal is to ensure that no child owns a toy that depicts violence. Sheinbaum said at the start of the year that we should swap out a warlike one for an educational one.