Church opens parishes for voluntary disarmament initiative

(OSV News) -- Mexico's Catholic leaders confirmed church participation in a voluntary disarmament program -- part of an effort aimed at reducing the number of firearms in a country awash with illegal weapons.

The Mexican bishops' conference said in a Dec. 18 post on X that parishes would open their doors "so that people can voluntarily and safely hand over weapons" in coordination with the federal government.

The post continued, "It's time to transform pain into hope and weapons into opportunities for peace. As a church we reaffirm our commitment to forgiveness, reconciliation and the construction of a prosperous and peaceful Mexico."

President Claudia Sheinbaum said at her Dec. 17 press conference that the Catholic Church would be joining a Mexico City program known as "Yes to disarmament, yes to peace."

Versions of the program over the years have allowed people to exchange weapons for gifts in a buyback program -- with no questions or background checks. Churches, including the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, have hosted gun buybacks. The Mexico City government said Dec. 13 that 9,140 weapons had been collected since 2019.

Jesuit Father Jorge Atilano, who leads peacebuilding initiatives, told OSV News that the buybacks were important "to avoid family and community violence. Having a weapon in the house is a temptation for resolving conflicts and I see it as important to remove that weapon."

Mexico's bishops have prayed for peace, called on Mexico's authorities to tend to the victims of violence and have urged truces for the Dec. 12 feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Christmas Day.

Gun violence has vexed Mexico for years, however, even though the country has strict firearms restrictions. Mexicans may own guns smaller than certain calibres and keep them in their homes. But the country only has one legal gun shop located on an army base in Mexico City.

Mexican presidents have long complained that lax U.S. laws lead to rampant gun smuggling into Mexico -- with illegal weapons arming drug cartels and causing mayhem. The Mexican government estimates that 200,000 guns are brought into the country each year from the United States.

The Mexican government sued U.S. gunmakers in U.S. federal court in 2021, arguing their practices promoted the illegal export of weapons and seeking $10 billion in damages. The case was dismissed, but was appealed and will be heard by the Supreme Court.

Mexico's military has seized surprisingly few weapons, despite the large volume of smuggled guns. Samuel Storr, an security investigator at the Jesuit-run Iberoamerican University, wrote in a 2021 analysis that the military seized "no more than 9,000 guns, while in 2011, 38,547 weapons were seized."

The efficacy of gun buybacks is also uncertain. A 2024 analysis from the Laboratório de Análise da Violência at the Rio de Janeiro State University found voluntary disarmament programs "did not work … at least in the short-term."