Supreme Court sides with US gunmakers in case centered on Mexican cartel violence

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The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled in favor of seven U.S. gun manufacturers who were sued by the Mexican government over allegations they aided and abetted illegal gun sales to Mexican cartels.

The high court’s decision in Smith & Wesson Brands v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos was unanimous, finding that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), a statute that protects gun makers from lawsuits, did not include exceptions that gave the Mexican government the ability to sue.

"The kinds of allegations Mexico makes cannot satisfy the demands of the statute’s predicate exception," Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the court.

Kagan noted the exceptions in the law would allow a lawsuit against the gun makers if they "proximately caused" Mexico harm.

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AR-15 rifles are displayed for sale at a gun show in 2017. (Reuters/Joshua Roberts)

"Mexico’s complaint, for the reasons given, does not plausibly allege such aiding and abetting," Kagan wrote. "So this suit remains subject to PLCAA’s general bar: An action cannot be brought against a manufacturer if, like Mexico’s, it is founded on a third party’s criminal use of the company’s product."

The Supreme Court concluded that the "proximate cause" standard meant the U.S. manufacturers could not be sued when the complex commerce pipeline goes from them to wholesalers, distributors, rogue retail dealers, straw purchasers, smugglers and then to the Mexican cartels.

The case came before the high court during a delicate time for both countries, politically and diplomatically.

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This aerial picture taken on Dec. 8, 2023, shows the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Sasabe, Arizona. (Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images)

The Trump administration has pushed the Mexican government to better patrol its border to block drugs and migrants from entering the U.S., while Mexican officials have demanded the U.S. stop military-style firearms from ending up in Mexico — fueling the very drug crisis both sides seek to end.

During the proceedings, attorneys for Mexico, which has strict gun sale restrictions, argued the country should be allowed to file a $10 billion civil lawsuit in U.S. courts. 

The gun makers countered that their standard business practices were being unfairly targeted and that they had no awareness that their products had been illegally transported into Mexico.

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The Supreme Court is seen on Feb. 28, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Like Mexico, families of gun violence victims, such as the parents of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, have also tried to bypass the PLCAA, but this case marks the first time the Supreme Court has examined the limits of the law.

The Sandy Hook families reached a $73 million out-of-court settlement with gun maker Remington.

Gun control advocates have argued the high court ruling against Mexico will make it harder for them to go after U.S. gun manufacturers when future mass shootings occur, if it can be proven they knowingly and foreseeably broke the law.

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Second Amendment rights groups, meanwhile, have said a lawful and heavily regulated industry should not be subject to liability for criminal acts committed by armed gangs in another country.

The Supreme Court agreed with the gun rights groups in this case. Kagan wrote that Mexico's complaint did not "plausibly allege the kind of ‘conscious... and culpable participation in another’s wrongdoing’ needed to make out an aiding-and-abetting charge" against the gun companies.