The US Supreme Court has blocked a lawsuit brought by Mexico that sought to hold American gunmakers accountable for playing a role in country’s struggle with drug cartels.
The court voted 9-0 to reject the suit, in the process upholding a 2005 law that shields gun manufacturers from liability if weapons they produce are misused.
Mexico’s government had argued that the “flood” of illegal guns across the border is a result of “deliberate” practices by US firms that they say appealed to cartel members with their products.
The decision overturns a lower court’s ruling that allowed the suit, brought against manufacturer Smith & Wesson and wholesaler Interstate Arms, to proceed.
Mexico’s original lawsuit was filed in 2021 against eight gun manufacturers, but the cases against six of them were dismissed by a district court.
The Supreme Court has now rejected the suit in its entirety, agreeing the case satisfied an exception to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which limits the liability of gun manufactures.
In its complaint, the Mexican government argued that the gun manufacturers “supply firearms to retail dealers whom they know illegally sell to Mexican gun traffickers”.
It also claimed that the manufacturers did not impose any controls on their distribution networks to prevent the sale of these weapons to traffickers in Mexico.
The Supreme Court said Mexico’s complaint “does not plausibly allege that the defendant manufacturers aided and abetted gun dealers’ unlawful sales of firearms to Mexican traffickers”.
The court said it has “little doubt” some guns are sold to Mexican firearm traffickers. However, it added that the government had been unable to prove that the manufacturers “participate in” those sales, as its complaint did not identify any specific criminal transactions.
Mexico’s accusation was more general, the court said – that the manufacturers help a number of unidentified “rogue gun dealers” sell firearms illegally.
This case is the first time the court has taken up the PLCAA shield law, which limits the ability of victims of gun violence to sue firearms manufacturers and dealers for the misuse of their products.
At a hearing in March, the court appeared sceptical of Mexico’s challenge, with justices on both sides of the ideological spectrum questioning the validity of the suit.
An investigation by the BBC’s US partner CBS News revealed that between 200,000 and 500,000 US-made firearms are trafficked to Mexico each year.
Almost half the guns recovered at crime scenes in Mexico are manufactured in the US, CBS reported citing data from the US’ Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
