Massachusetts/Mexico City. A landmark ruling has given Mexico the right to sue gun manufacturers in the United States.
The country has been trying for years to curb the excessive violence fueled by the illegal arms trade from the USA.
The Massachusetts appeals court’s decision to allow the $10 billion lawsuit against seven U.S. gun manufacturers and a U.S. arms dealer is based on the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which gives foreign states the right to sue in U.S. courts to raise. In this case, the ruling allows Mexico to initiate a civil lawsuit against the weapons manufacturers.
Mexico argues that weapons manufacturers are partly to blame for the escalating violence in the country. They failed to take appropriate measures to stop the illegal trade in firearms. According to the State Department, it is estimated that 68 percent of illegal weapons entering Mexico come from the United States.
According to official figures, more than half a million unregistered weapons are delivered to Mexico from the USA every year, “endangering the country’s security, its development and its population” ( Amerika21 reported).
In 2022, Mexico’s lawsuit against several large US weapons manufacturers – including Glock, Smith & Wesson and Berretta – was most recently rejected. The decision at the time was based on the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which was passed during the George W. Bush administration and protects the gun industry from lawsuits over misuse of its products.
Alicia Bárcena, Mexico’s foreign minister, called the appeals court’s latest ruling “great news” in the legal battle. The trial is now resuming in Massachusetts.
Mexico’s lawsuit is the first filed by a foreign state against weapons manufacturers in a U.S. court. Jonathan Lowy, one of the Mexican government’s lawyers, called the decision an “important breakthrough in holding the gun industry accountable for its contribution to gun violence.”