Tijuana’s municipal police have confiscated 40 firearms so far in 2025, including 23 handguns and 17 long guns, according to a mid-year security report from the city government. The seizures resulted from routine patrols, citizen reports, and coordinated operations across the municipality. But the numbers tell a more complex story about gun violence in a border city where firearm availability remains a persistent public safety concern.
Tijuana Firearm Seizures Rose Sharply From 2023 to 2024
The 40 weapons seized between January and late May 2025 follow a year in which Tijuana authorities reported a notable increase in gun confiscations. In 2024, municipal police seized 173 firearms over the full year, a jump from 127 in 2023. That 36% year-over-year increase reflected both stepped-up enforcement and the sheer volume of illegal weapons circulating in the city.
Tijuana has long been one of Mexico’s most heavily armed cities. Its position on the U.S. border makes it a destination for weapons trafficked southbound from California and Arizona. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has repeatedly identified the Tijuana corridor as a major route for illegal gun flows into Mexico. A 2023 ATF trace report found that roughly 70% of firearms recovered at Mexican crime scenes and submitted for tracing originated in the United States.
Mexico’s federal government has made southbound arms trafficking a central issue in its bilateral relationship with Washington. In 2021, Mexico filed a landmark lawsuit against major U.S. gun manufacturers in a Massachusetts federal court, arguing they facilitated illegal trafficking. A U.S. appeals court revived portions of that case in January 2024 after a lower court initially dismissed it. The legal battle continues, but the guns keep arriving.
At the local level, Tijuana’s Secretaría de Seguridad Ciudadana (the municipal public safety department) operates weapon interdiction as part of routine policing. Officers recovered the 40 firearms during a mix of vehicle checkpoints, foot patrols in high-crime colonias, and responses to anonymous tip-line calls. The city also participates in the federal “Sí al Desarme, Sí a la Paz” program, a voluntary gun buyback initiative run by Mexico’s Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional (SEDENA, the national defense ministry). That program exchanges firearms for cash, grocery vouchers, or electronics, no questions asked.
Handguns Account for Over Half of 2025 Seizures
Of the 40 weapons recovered in 2025, 23 were handguns. That proportion tracks with national patterns. Handguns are easier to conceal, cheaper to acquire on the black market, and more commonly used in street-level crime. The 17 long guns seized, a category that includes rifles and shotguns, often appear in cases linked to organized crime or drug trafficking operations.
Tijuana recorded 692 homicides in 2024, according to data from the Baja California state attorney general’s office (FGE, the state prosecutor responsible for criminal investigations). That figure represented a decline from the peak years of 2018 and 2019, when annual homicide counts exceeded 2,500. But the city still ranks among Mexico’s most violent municipalities. The vast majority of those killings involve firearms.
For residents in colonias like Playas de Tijuana, Zona Centro, and the eastern neighborhoods along the Alamar canal, gun violence is not abstract. Shootings periodically close streets, prompt school lockdowns, and send residents indoors. The seizure numbers represent weapons removed from that daily equation, though security analysts consistently note that confiscations capture only a fraction of circulating arms.
Cross-Border Residents Face Checkpoint Delays During Operations
The enforcement operations that produce these seizures also affect daily life at border crossings and on city streets. Vehicle checkpoints on Boulevard 2000, the Tijuana-Rosarito libre road, and near the San Ysidro port of entry can add 20 to 45 minutes to commute times. Police typically set up mobile inspection points on weekends and during holiday periods, when cross-border traffic peaks.
Drivers crossing into Mexico should be aware that Mexican law prohibits civilians from possessing most firearms without a permit issued by SEDENA. Even a single round of ammunition found in a vehicle can result in arrest and federal charges. The U.S. Consulate in Tijuana has repeatedly warned American citizens that Mexican weapons laws carry mandatory prison sentences, and that U.S. consular staff cannot intervene to prevent prosecution.
Tijuana’s police plan to continue interdiction patrols through the summer months. The next update on seizure totals is expected in the city’s mid-year security report, typically released in July. This article draws on reporting from Cadena Noticias.