Record amount of ammunition seized last year on way to Mexico from Arizona

Arizona ports of entry had the highest amount of ammunition seized on the U.S.-Mexico border for the second year in a row, an amount that more than tripled this fiscal year.

Customs officers in Arizona seized more than 300,000 bullets, magazines and gun parts in fiscal year 2022, a 231% increase over 2021, primarily at Nogales ports of entry, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protections. Of these seizures, 99% were headed from the U.S. into Mexico.

Download PDF

While ammunition and gun part seizures increased at Arizona ports, seizures of weapons fell by more than 38%, to 138 handguns and long arms seized, of which 86% were headed into Mexico.

Conversely, in the Border Patrol Tucson Sector, which patrols between ports of entry, ammunition seizures fell in 2022 while weapon seizures increased by 51% making it the second-highest area for weapon seizures after the Laredo Field Office in Texas.

Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents seized 293 handguns, 24 long arms and other firearms and more than 9,500 bullets and magazines in 2022.

The majority of these seizures are neither coming or going across the border but are legally-owned weapons of U.S. citizens encountered during human smuggling incidents, says Customs and Border Protections spokesperson John Mennell.

Human smuggling incidents and related high-speed pursuits and deadly crashes are increasing in Southern Arizona as well.

Why Arizona seizures are so high

One reason for ammunition smuggling outpacing weapons is that criminal groups in Mexico have been accumulating stockpiles of high-caliber weapons for about 15 years, says Javier Osorio, assistant professor in the University of Arizona School of Government and Public Policy.

“It seems that criminals have sufficient armed capabilities to fight their rivals,” said Osorio, who has been studying organized crime in Mexico for over a decade. “What they need now is to keep their fire capacity by accumulating ammo. By its nature, ammunition is ephemeral. It is useless to have fire weapons without bullets. That is why they need to keep an active fighting capacity. The high levels of ammunition indicate that levels of violence in Mexico may further increase.”

Sonora is primarily controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel. The large amount of ammunition being smuggled suggests they are increasing their fire capacity to engage criminal organizations in other parts of Mexico, Osorio says. The high levels of ammunition seizures compared to gun seizures also indicates that they already have abundant arsenals to fight other groups.

The level of ammunition seizures at Arizona ports is nearly four times higher than any other enforcement area on the U.S.-Mexico border.

A couple of reasons the smuggling from Arizona is so high is because of the two larger cities close to the border — Tucson and Phoenix — and the easy access to guns and ammunition, says Scott Brown, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Phoenix.

Download PDF

There are “more places that are selling guns and ammo and more anonymity when you’re buying guns and ammo because you’re doing it in a larger market,” he said. “So we’re a little more convenient, frankly, for the cartels.”

He said California’s gun laws impact that state’s sale of firearms ammunition as well, making Arizona’s neighbor state less appealing to smugglers.

Weapons smugglers now are often U.S. citizens, with loose ties to Mexican cartels, who are hired to buy firearms in the U.S. and take them across the border. Having U.S. citizens who can legally possess the firearms draws less scrutiny, Brown said.

Another big reason for the huge increase in ammunition seizures is because there were several very large seizures in 2022. There were 13 seizures of between 12,000 to 41,000 rounds each that added up to more than 300,000 rounds — almost 97% of the year’s 313,970 rounds and gun parts seized at Arizona ports.

On Friday, federal prosecutors announced the indictments of 22 people from Tucson who they say were illegally purchasing firearms in the United States and smuggling them into Mexico, some of the most recent of many such indictments in the U.S. District of Arizona Court.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

As well, legal cross-border traffic is increasing as the pandemic is waning, and the smugglers recognize they can more easily blend in, Brown says.

There are also more seizures because U.S. agencies have increased their efforts and collaboration, with each other and with Mexico.

“It’s in our interest if we can help the government of Mexico be more stable and less outgunned,” Brown said. “It makes them a better law enforcement partner to us for all the other cross-border crimes that impact Arizona and our nation.”

Download PDF

“When Mexican law enforcement or the Mexican government as a whole is being outgunned by the cartels, that makes them less effective in combating fentanyl smuggling, combating human smuggling,” he said. “So when the cartels are better armed, it is a contributor to the increases we see in all those other crimes.”

In Mexico, levels of violence between both criminal organizations fighting for turf and confrontations between criminal groups and the Mexican National Guard have continued to increase, says Osorio, with the UA.

Across the entire Southwest border ammo and gun-part seizures have increased by more than 92% since last fiscal year, according to federal data. Weapons seizures fell by almost 9%.

Mexico can’t do much on its own

The majority of firearms used in Mexico, where gun control laws are very strict, are bought in the U.S, experts agree.

Of more than 14,000 firearms recovered in Mexico in 2021, 67.5% were traced back to the United States, according to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives trace data.

The government of Mexico said that between 70% to 90% of guns recovered at crime scenes in Mexico were trafficked from the U.S., in a 2021 lawsuit where it sued numerous U.S. gun manufacturers, seeking billions in damages, saying the companies have negligent and irresponsible practices that allow their firearms to wreak havoc in Mexico.

A federal judge just dismissed the case at the end of September, citing the broad protection provided to gun manufacturers by the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act passed in 2005, according to the Associated Press. The law protects gun manufacturers from damages “resulting from the criminal or unlawful misuse” of a firearm.

Mexico filed a notice of appeal in the case earlier this week.

Mexico also filed a suit against five Arizona gun shops, earlier this month, three of which are in Tucson: Diamondback, SnG Tactical and The Hub.

Collaboration between the U.S. and the government of Mexico on this issue has increased in recent years, even as firearms seizures on the U.S.-Mexico border increase.

Gun trafficking from the U.S. to Mexico is a bilateral issue, much like drug trafficking from Mexico to the U.S. is, and will take committed U.S. cooperation, Osorio says.

“Unfortunately, without committed U.S. cooperation, there is little the Mexican government can do,” he says.

“The sustained increase in ammunition seizures indicates that criminal organizations are preparing for a long and violent campaign,” Osorio said. “It is hard to tell if the Sinaloa cartel is behind this high level of demand in preparation for a major military effort against its rivals. In any case, the unprecedented flow of ammunition is an ominous indication that violence is not likely to decline in Mexico.”