Can Mexico sue U.S. gun companies? The Supreme Court will decide

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court said Friday that it will decide whether Mexico can try to hold U.S. gunmakers liable for violence caused by Mexican drug cartels.

Mexico is seeking billions of dollars in damages and new gun control measures in the first suit by a national government against the gun industry.

The issue before the Supreme Court is a question about whether federal law protects gunmakers and dealers from liability when their products are used to commit crimes. Does this law block Mexico’s lawsuits against U.S. companies?

A federal district court ruled in 2022 that it does, but the Boston-Based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals still allowed the suit to move forward.

In January, the appeals court said the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act covers only “lawful” actions. And Mexico “adequately alleges that defendants aided and abetted the knowingly unlawful downstream trafficking of their guns into Mexico,” the three-judge panel wrote, noting that those allegations must still be proved in court.

Smith & Wesson and wholesaler Witmer Public Safety Group asked the Supreme Court to review that decision.

Illustration: Graphics show the avalanche of guns from US to Mexico

Mexico’s complaints against six other companies included in the suit were dismissed in August by a judge in Boston because the companies are not based in Massachusetts. Saylor also said Mexico had not shown that any guns sold by those companies in Massachusetts were illegally trafficked to Mexico.

Mexico says 70% to 90% of the guns recovered at crime scenes were trafficked into the country from the U.S.

Related Hacked data reveals which US gun sellers are behind Mexican cartel violence

It's harder to buy a gun in Mexico than it is in the U.S.

In Mexico, the regulations around guns purchases are much different from those in the U.S. People are able to buy one legally from only two stores in the entire nation, and only after months of paperwork and registrations. That means a majority of gun crimes are committed with smuggled American firearms.

Mexico says U.S. gunmakers know how this is happening. Manufacturers continue to supply certain dealers with guns, and those dealers go on to sell them to "straw buyers," who sell them in large volume to cartels, the lawsuit says. Gunmakers also design military-style weapons that are particularly sought-after by cartels and make it easy to remove the serial numbers, Mexico says.

Comparing gun companies to Budweiser being held liable for beer sold to a minor

Attorneys for Smith & Wesson say Mexico is trying to use the American court system to bankrupt the American firearms industry based on a “novel and far-fetched” legal claim.

Gunmakers should not be responsible for what dealers do, they told the high court, just as Budweiser isn’t liable when a liquor store sells its beer to a minor.

“By treating such passive failure to stop downstream crimes as `aiding and abetting,’” they said in a filing, “Mexico threatens to criminalize the ordinary production and sale of firearms – as well as every other lawful product that criminals may misuse.”

Contributing: Nick Penzenstadler

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court to decide if Mexico can sue US gun makers