Last week, after one of Mexico’s most wanted drug lords, El Mencho was killed in a raid, Mexican Defence Minister Ricardo Trevilla Trejo claimed that more than 80% of the weapons that are seized from the Mexican cartels come from the other side of the border, the US.
It is important to note here that the main Mexican drug cartels include Gulf Cartel, the Sinaloa Cartel and the CJNG. These cartels are equipped with high-quality firearms, magazines, and, in certain cases, explosives. Now, under the Federal Firearm Laws of Mexico, citizens are allowed to buy limited firearms, like small handguns, .22-calibre rifles and certain shotguns.
However, the purchases are allowed only through two military-run stores, OTCA in Apodaca and DCAM in Mexico City. Multiple background checks and government approvals are required for civilians to legally purchase any firearms, and only armed forces are allowed to purchase military-grade rifles.
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The cartels, however, bypass these regulations and obtain their weapons through illegal means, primarily from the U.S., said Benjamin Smith, a professor of Latin American history at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. Since high-capacity magazines and higher-caliber rifles are more readily available in the U.S., it becomes easier for cartels to source them illegally from America.
While some weapons come from corruption or theft within the Mexican security system, the majority are trafficked from the U.S. Authorities estimate that roughly 200,000 to 500,000 firearms are trafficked annually from the U.S. to Mexico for cartel use.
This trade is illegal under the laws of both the U.S. and Mexico. American law prohibits exporting firearms to non-U.S. citizens without authorization from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Mexico’s Federal Law on Firearms and Explosives also forbids importing firearms without government permission. Those caught conducting such trafficking face severe penalties under both nations’ laws.
While Mexican and American authorities have taken steps to address the weapons trafficking issue, there have been speculations that the U.S. might deliberately provide weapons to Mexican cartels.
Smith said the possibility of America actively funding these weapons is highly unlikely. Instead, “it is possible that in order to get information on the Sinaloa Cartel, [authorities] turned a blind eye to arms trafficking by their rival, the CJNG.”
He further noted that while the U.S. could curb trafficking by enforcing stricter regulations, authorities often fail to do so due to factors including domestic pressure and “the political expediency of blaming Latin Americans rather than Americans for cartel violence.”
Trump confirmed on Hannity that the US will begin conducting land strikes on cartel assets in Mexico.
He says “the cartels are running Mexico”.
The Deep State racketeering network is going to be obliterated. The South/Central American cartels are going to be wiped out. pic.twitter.com/BW142m90M9
— Clandestine (@WarClandestine) January 9, 2026
Therefore, to effectively counter gun smuggling across the border a larger shift in the US priorities and policies is required, as Annette Idler, associate professor of global security at the University of Oxford highlighted.
According to her, a credible strategy “requires Washington to treat southbound firearms trafficking with the same urgency as northbound flows of drugs and people – tightening oversight, investing in tracing and investigations, and framing cross-border security as a genuinely mutual obligation rather than a one-directional problem.”
With El Mencho’s death last week, Mexico witnessed another wave of cartel violence, affecting the life of common people. Therefore, for a long term solution to the cartel issue, both the US and Mexico need to work together since it is the innocent lives of both nations that often end up paying the price of weapon trafficking.
