by Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Staff
(Worthy News) – In a landmark 9-0 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected Mexico’s attempt to hold American gun manufacturers liable for the rampant violence fueled by cartel weapons south of the border, saying the lawsuit lacked legal merit under federal law.
The high court found that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which broadly shields gunmakers from liability when their firearms are criminally misused, applied squarely in this case. The lawsuit, Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, marked the first time the 2005 law had reached the Supreme Court.
Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the court, acknowledged that American-made weapons are indeed used in cartel violence in Mexico. However, she emphasized that Mexico failed to prove that U.S. gun manufacturers “knowingly aided and abetted” illegal gun trafficking.
“The manufacturers cannot be charged with assisting in criminal acts just because Mexican cartel members like those guns too,” Kagan wrote. “Its complaint does not plausibly allege the kind of ‘conscious and culpable participation in another’s wrongdoing’ needed to make out an aiding-and-abetting charge.”
Mexico had sought $10 billion in damages, arguing that gunmakers deliberately marketed weapons in ways attractive to drug cartels and supplied them to U.S. dealers who then funneled them to traffickers. But the justices unanimously concluded that the allegations didn’t meet the high bar required to override PLCAA’s immunity.
Justice Clarence Thomas, in a concurring opinion, warned against allowing “mere allegations” to pierce federal immunity. “Plaintiffs must point to an actual adjudicated violation of law,” he wrote, warning that otherwise, defendants could be forced into civil trials resembling criminal prosecutions without constitutional protections.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, also concurring, said allowing Mexico’s suit to proceed would have turned courts into “common-law regulators,” contrary to Congress’s intent in passing PLCAA.
Mexico’s case had previously been dismissed by a federal district judge but was revived by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court’s decision reverses that ruling, siding with manufacturers including Smith & Wesson, Glock, Beretta, Colt, and Ruger.
Smith & Wesson CEO Mark Smith called the ruling “a big win for our company, our industry, American sovereignty, and every American who wishes to exercise Second Amendment rights.”
Senator Richard Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, criticized the outcome, calling for legislative action. “Gun trafficking from the United States to Mexico is fueling a cycle of tremendous violence,” he said. “Lawless gun manufacturers and drug cartels are weaponizing our lax gun laws to wreak havoc.”
The Mexican government has not yet issued a formal response.
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