Mexico offers cash to get guns off the streets: $1,200 for an AK-47 and $1,300 for a machine gun

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Friday officially launched a campaign against the number of weapons on the streets full of violence in the country.

The program, called “Yes to Disarmament, Yes to Peace,” will provide cash to those who anonymously leave weapons at designated locations, including churches.

Gun owners will receive 8,700 pesos ($430) for a revolver, 25,000 pesos ($1,200) for an AK-47 rifle and 26,450 pesos ($1,300) for a machine gun. Guns will be destroyed.

This disarmament program is part of the government's “core strategy” to fight crime.

“Why should we teach our children anything about violence?” Sheinbaum said at the launch ceremony, which showed the destruction of the weapon by the military.

Children who attended the event with their parents were able to trade toy guns for other toys.

The plan, which started floating last month, was published in the state government's official gazette earlier this week.

It has been present in Mexico City since 2019, but now it will operate throughout the country, and is carried out by the defense, interior and public security services, with the support of the religious authorities of Mexico.

Mexico is plagued by violent crime related to the multibillion-dollar drug trade.

In 2023, the country recorded 31,062 homicides, 70 percent of which were caused by firearms, according to preliminary data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Mexico tightly controls the sale of firearms, making them impossible to legally obtain, and has also urged Washington to crack down on arms smuggling across the border from the United States.

An estimated 200,000 to a half US firearms are smuggled into Mexico every year. “60 Minutes” reported last month. Mexico asked U.S. Attorney Jonathan Lowy to help cut off the gun pipeline, known as “iron river.”

“If you think that fentanyl overdose is a problem, if you think that migration across the border is a problem, if you think that the spread of organized crime is a problem in the United States, then you should be concerned about stopping the criminal gun pipeline to Mexico.” Lowy told “60 Minutes.” ” in December. “And you need to stop it at its source. Because all those problems are driven by the supply of US guns to corporations.”