Mexican lawsuit against U.S. gun companies can proceed, appeals court rules

Mexico’s lawsuit against U.S. gun manufacturers won a key victory Monday when a federal appeals court in Boston reversed a previous decision that ruled gun companies were protected from legal action.

A three-judge panel ruled that the companies could potentially be held liable, as Mexico’s complaint “adequately alleges that defendants aided and abetted the knowingly unlawful downstream trafficking of their guns into Mexico,” MSNBC reported.

The lawsuit, originally filed in August 2021, takes aim at Smith & Wesson, Colt and Glock, among others, claiming they “design, market, distribute and sell guns in ways” that contribute to gun violence in Mexico and arm Mexican drug cartels.

The suit noted that homicides in Mexico dropped from 1999 to 2004, when the U.S. ban on assault weapons expired, and claims that up to 90% of all weapons recovered from Mexican crime scenes were trafficked from the United States.

Seeking at least $10 billion in damages, the suit was dismissed in September 2022 by a U.S. district court that ruled in the companies were shielded by the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA).

But on Monday, the appeals court found “that Mexico’s complaint plausibly alleges a type of claim that is statutorily exempt from the PLCAA’s general prohibition.

“We therefore reverse the district court’s holding that the PLCAA bars Mexico’s common law claims, and we remand for further proceedings,” the judges wrote in their decision.

With Monday’s decision, the case is now expected to return to a lower court, where the Mexican government plans to “demonstrate the defendants’ negligence” and continue to seek damages, according to a press release.

A Glock spokesperson told CNN the company would “vigorously” defend itself.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Senior Vice President Lawrence G. Keane called the lawsuit “baseless,” saying it was an attempt to “deflect attention from [the Mexican government’s] disgraceful and corrupt failure to protect its citizens.”