https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/4/mexico-sues-us-gun-makers-for-role-in-trafficking-and-homicides
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The Mexican government sued United States gun manufacturers and distributors Wednesday in US federal court, arguing that their negligent and illegal commercial practices have unleashed tremendous bloodshed in Mexico.
The unusual lawsuit was filed in US federal court in Boston. Among those being sued are some of the biggest names in guns, including: Smith & Wesson Brands, Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, Beretta USA, Colt’s Manufacturing Company LLC, and Glock. Another defendant is Interstate Arms, a Boston-area wholesaler that sells guns from all but one of the named manufacturers to dealers around the US.
The manufacturers did not immediately answer requests for comment.
The Mexican government argues that the companies know that their practices contribute to the trafficking of guns to Mexico and facilitate it. Mexico wants compensation for the havoc the guns have wrought in its country.
The Mexican government “brings this action to put an end to the massive damage that the Defendants cause by actively facilitating the unlawful trafficking of their guns to drug cartels and other criminals in Mexico,” the lawsuit said.
The government estimates that 70 percent of the weapons trafficked to Mexico come from the US, according to the Foreign Affairs Ministry. And that in 2019 alone, at least 17,000 homicides were linked to trafficked weapons.
Alejandro Celorio, legal adviser for the ministry, told reporters Wednesday that the damage caused by the trafficked guns would be equal to 1.7 percent to 2 percent of Mexico’s gross domestic product. The government will seek at least $10bn in compensation, he said. Mexico’s GDP last year was more than $1.2 trillion.
“We don’t do it to pressure the United States,” Celorio said. “We do it so there aren’t deaths in Mexico.”
Mexico did not seek the advice of the US government on the matter, but advised the US Embassy before filing the lawsuit.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation Inc (NSSF) said it rejected Mexico’s claims that US manufacturers were negligent in their business practices.
“The Mexican government is responsible for the rampant crime and corruption within their own borders,” Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF’s senior vice president, said in a statement. He said cartels use guns taken illegally to Mexico or stolen from Mexican military and law enforcement.
The sale of firearms is severely restricted in Mexico and controlled by the defence ministry. But thousands of guns are smuggled into Mexico by the country’s powerful drug cartels.
“The Mexico-US border is really porous,” said Al Jazeera correspondent John Holman, reporting from Mexico. “When you’re heading into this country – we’ve done it so many times – there’s not a lot of officials to check cars.
“We’ve actually talked with traffickers that say, ‘Yes, we can get guns through without even hiding them that much and it’s relatively easy for us’,” Holman said.
There were more than 36,000 murders in Mexico last year, and the toll has remained stubbornly high despite President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s pledge to pacify the country. Mexico’s nationwide murder rate in 2020 remained unchanged at 29 per 100,000 inhabitants. By comparison, the US homicide rate in 2019 was 5.8 per 100,000.
Speaking at a public ceremony on Wednesday Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said his government wanted arms manufacturers to put an immediate end to practices that caused deaths in his country.
He said he viewed the US government, which is not named in the civil lawsuit, as being willing to work with Mexico to stem arms trafficking.
Ebrard, widely seen as a presidential contender in 2024, has made a point in recent years of publicising the issue of US gun trafficking and lax gun controls.
On Tuesday, Ebrard traveled to El Paso, Texas, for a ceremony commemorating the second anniversary of the killing of 22 people at a Walmart , where the shooter was accused of deliberately targeting Mexicans .
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‘Yes, we can get guns through without even hiding them that much and it’s relatively easy for us.”
Apparently buying them is just as easy.
This lawsuit should be interesting.
They were smart to keep the Feds out of it.
The Gun Manufacturers should fund some Lawyers to start some class action lawsuits against the Mexican Government on behalf of the Citizens of the United States for Fifty years of facilitating Illegal Immigration and Drug Smuggling into the USA.
Mexico is ignoring their long history of supporting the drug cartels. Who the hell do they think is running all of these guns through Mexico? But it is too damn difficult to go after the cartels that have bought off the politicians and law enforcement.
This lawsuit needs to be immediately filed in the circular bin; along with the aspirations of the anti gun crowd.
Mexico needs to take care of their damn drug cartels if they want these killings to stop. Suing the gun manufacturers does jack shit of nothing; except waste an already crowded court system's time.
At least the Mexican Drug Cartels are only getting semi-auto guns from the USA. Criminals will always get guns no matter what the law says the same way they get drugs and everything else illegal. Right now they get them from US sources because it's the easiest and cheapest way but if they couldn't they'd still get them but they'd be Full auto machine guns from dozens of potential sources worldwide most likely from Iranian Heroin Cartels who are already in business with Mexican Drug Cartels.
It is about time gun manufacturers paid for this!
Pay for the Mexican government being on the take from the drug cartels? How is that the problem of US gun manufacturers?
I don't see this going very far.