Baja California authorities destroyed 1,149 firearms on Wednesday at the Morelos Barracks of the Second Military Zone in Tijuana, removing weapons seized from criminal organizations across the state over multiple years.
The arsenal included 878 handguns and 270 rifles, along with nearly 1,200 magazines and more than 45,000 rounds of ammunition. State Security Secretary General Laureano Carrillo Rodríguez confirmed that roughly 70 percent of the destroyed weapons were manufactured in the United States, a figure he called one of the state’s primary security challenges.
Weapons Linked to Criminal Organizations
The firearms came from seizures conducted in Tijuana, Mexicali, and Tecate during operations spanning several years. Carrillo Rodríguez said the weapons belonged to various criminal organizations operating in Baja California. Military and civilian authorities supervised the destruction after the Fiscalía General de la República (the federal Attorney General’s office) cleared each weapon, confirming its associated legal proceedings had concluded and it was no longer tied to active investigations.
The ceremony coincided with the International Day for the Destruction of Arms. SEDENA (the Secretariat of National Defense) carried out the physical destruction of the weapons.
800 Guns Already Seized in 2026
Carrillo Rodríguez reported that state and federal forces have already seized approximately 800 firearms in Baja California during the first half of 2026. That pace is consistent with the roughly 1,600 weapons confiscated statewide during all of 2025. Of this year’s total, the Fuerza Estatal (state police force) accounted for about 150 seizures. Tijuana, Tecate, and Mexicali remain the municipalities with the highest volume of confiscated weapons.
The southbound flow of U.S. firearms into Mexico is a long-running problem along the Baja California border. In a similar destruction ceremony in October 2023, also held at the Second Military Zone in Tijuana, officials destroyed more than 1,100 weapons and said at that time that 90 to 95 percent of seized firearms in the region originated in the United States. Wednesday’s 70 percent figure specifically refers to weapons of confirmed U.S. manufacture across the state.
Gun Ownership Tightly Restricted in Mexico
Under Mexican law, only law enforcement, the military, and individuals with special permits may legally possess firearms or ammunition. That legal framework makes nearly every seized weapon an illegal import or illegally held item. The cross-border gun pipeline feeds cartel violence in Tijuana, Mexicali, and other border cities where territorial disputes drive homicide rates.
Originally reported by El Imparcial and Semanario ZETA.