The Supreme Court will hear the arguments on the demand of the Government of Mexico on March 4which accuses arms producers of lax actions against arms trafficking and contributing to violence in that country.
The case Smith & Wesson Brands v. United Mexican Statesaccepted by the Supreme Court of the United States, must answer whether a lawsuit filed by Mexico against American arms manufacturers should go forward, after progress in lower courts.
While the United States claims Mexico for drug trafficking by cartels, the Mexican Government initiated a lawsuit against arms producers for, in some way, allow cartels to obtain weapons that are not allowed to be sold in Mexico.
There are two questions that the judges will have to answer about the case: (1) Whether the production and sale of firearms in the United States contributes to damages to the Mexican Government derived from the violence committed by drug cartels; and (2) whether the production and sale of firearms in the United States amounts to “aiding and abetting” illegal firearms trafficking, because the producers allegedly know that some of their products are trafficked illegally.
The Supreme Court received the defendants’ petition to decide the case in April, but it was in October when it made the decision to include it in its 2025 decisions.
“Unless this Court intervenes, the federal courts of the northeastern United States are now open to lawsuits from any foreign government seeking to limit the American firearms industry,” the plaintiffs claimed. “That is intolerable for a country with a Second Amendment […]. In short, Mexico’s lawsuit threatens to undermine US sovereignty and constitutional freedomand has no place in the courts of this country.”
The claim by Smith & Wesson Brands and others occurred after last January, the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ordered that the Mexican Government’s lawsuit against gun manufacturers return to the federal court in Boston, Massachusetts, considering that it included sufficient merits to advance.
In addition to greater actions by arms producers to prevent arms trafficking, the Mexican Government has requested economic compensation of $10 billion dollars.
The case returned to the District Court in Massachusetts, where Judge Dennis Saylor, in charge of the case, removed six defendant companies, because Mexico did not prove that they operated in Massachusetts and their equipment had been found in that country as part of the violence unleashed by cartels.
Republicans support arms producers
Dudley Brown, president of the National Association for Gun Rights, and several congressmen spoke last Wednesday in front of the Supreme Court, to ask the judges to dismiss Mexico’s lawsuit, after delivering an ‘amicus curiae’ or documents “friends of the court” in support of the defendants.
Among his arguments are the “Mexico’s attempt to impose European-style arms control”through the courts, which they consider an attack on the Second Amendment and US sovereignty.
“Senator Cruz, the representative [Darrel] “Issa and the National Gun Rights Association believe that Mexico is attempting to bypass Congress and impose European-style gun control on the United States through a court ruling,” Brown said. “If Mexico can use our own judicial system against us to destroy our rights and enact European-style gun control, the Constitution, the Second Amendment, and our national sovereignty itself will be completely destroyed.”
Defenders of arms producers affirm that Mexico has no merit in pointing the finger at the United States. for the contribution of cartel violence, which is why they reject the effort that would affect AR/AK type weapons, an effort that Mexico has also pushed with the UN Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), also known as the “ Small Arms Treaty.
“This is an attack on the Second Amendment.” [y] an attack on the sovereignty of our nation,” Darrel said. “The United States has been the producer and distributor of weapons for public safety, defense and the like, for generations, and for Mexico to try to circumvent US laws and, therefore, US sovereignty is an attack that cannot be tolerated” .
The representative of Texas, Chip Roy, joined the support against Mexico.
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