The lawsuit also raised claims that some firearm manufacturers intentionally market their products to drug cartels, advertising certain guns as “military-grade” and giving others names like the Super “El Jefe.”
The U.S. Supreme Court has dismissed a longstanding lawsuit against firearm manufacturers and retailers, who the Mexican government hoped to hold liable for allegedly aiding and abetting gun violence.
According to NBC News, the court ruled unanimously that the lawsuit is barred by a 2005 federal law that shields gun companies from acts of violence committed by their customers.
In the court’s decision, Justice Elena Kagan acknowledged that gun violence is a problem in Mexico—but said the country’s attorneys failed to persuasively argue that their case, if sent to trial, would overcome the high barrier needed to surmount the companies’ liability protections.
“Mexico’s complaint does not plausibly allege that the defendant manufacturers aided and abetted gun dealers’ unlawful sales of firearms to Mexican traffickers,” wrote Kagan, who penned the court’s unanimous opinion.
As LegalReader.com has reported before, the lawsuit accused firearm manufacturers—including Smith & Wesson, Glock, and Colt—of selling firearms to dealers whose guns are frequently connected to crimes in Mexico.
“In asserting that the manufacturers intentionally supply guns to bad-apple dealers, Mexico never confronts that the manufacturers do not directly supply any dealers, bad-apple or otherwise,” Kagan wrote. “They instead sell firearms to middlemen distributors, whom Mexico has never claimed lack independence.”
The lawsuit also raised claims that some firearm manufacturers intentionally market their products to drug cartels, advertising certain guns as “military-grade” and giving others names like the Super “El Jefe.”
“We have little doubt that, as the complaint assets, some such sales take place—and that the manufacturers know they do,” she said. “But still, Mexico has not adequately pleaded what it needs to.”
In response to the Supreme Court’s ruling, Jonathon Lowy, president of Global Acton on Gun Violence and an attorney who represented Mexico in the case, said that this decision is “the clearest evidence yet that the gun industry’s special interest get-out-of-free card must be revoked.”
Several of the defendants, in contrast, issued statements praising the ruling and claiming that it reaffirms the rule of law.
“Our client makes a legal, constitutionally-protected product that millions of Americans buy and use, and we are gratified that the Supreme Court agreed that we are not legally responsible for criminals misusing that product to hurt people, much less smuggling it to Mexico to be used for drug cartels,” said Noel Francisco, who represented defendant Smith & Wesson.
Sources
Supreme Court rejects Mexico’s lawsuit against U.S. gun makers
Supreme Court shuts down Mexico’s lawsuit against American gunmakers
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