The Mexican government has filed a lawsuit against nearly a dozen American firearms companies, accusing the weapons manufacturers for gun-induced violence and bloodshed in the county, The New York Times reported.
“For decades, the government and its citizens have been victimized by a deadly flood of military-style and other particularly lethal guns that flows from the U.S. across the border,” Mexico alleged of 10 firearms manufacturers in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, the Times reported.
- The Mexican government said the companies’ “deliberate actions and business practices” have led to a flood of weapons into the country, according to the Times, and that those firearms — with some appearing to be styled to appeal to a Mexican consumer — have made their way to the hands of the cartels.
- “What’s the objective? That the companies in question compensate Mexico’s government for the damage caused by their negligent practices,” said Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard at a press conference of the $10 billion lawsuit, NBC News reported.
Popular brands like Smith & Wesson, Colt’s Manufacturing Co. LLC, and Beretta U.S.A. were a few of companies named in the lawsuit, according to The Associated Press.
- Gun sales are heavily restricted in Mexico, but drug cartels have smuggled thousands of firearms into the country, the AP reported.
American firearm trade group rejects Mexico’s allegation
A U.S. firearms trade association, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, responded to the lawsuit in a statement by rejecting the accusation by the Mexican government that American firearms companies “participated in negligent business practices.”
- “These allegations are baseless. The Mexican government is responsible for the rampant crime and corruption within their own borders,” Lawrence G. Keane, the foundation’s senior vice president and general counsel, said in the statement. “Mexico’s criminal activity is a direct result of the illicit drug trade, human trafficking and organized crime cartels that plague Mexico’s citizens.”
Firearms policy expert and University of California, Los Angeles law professor Adam Winkler said the billions dollar lawsuit was a “long shot,” the AP reported.
- “It is a bold and innovative lawsuit,” Winkler said. “We haven’t seen anything like this before. The gun manufacturers have enjoyed broad immunity from lawsuits for now two decades.”
The gun manufacturers listed in the lawsuit had not responded for comment to The Associated Press or The New York Times.