Mexico Files Lawsuit Accusing Five American Gun Manufacturers of Weapons Trafficking
Jose Nino
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On October 10, 2022 the Mexican government filed a second lawsuit against five United States arms dealers following a Massachusetts court’s dismissal of a previous case against American gun manufacturers.
According to a report by Press TV, this new lawsuit is directed against the state of Arizona and the aforementioned five arms dealers. Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard proclaimed that the five gun dealers have sold guns that were allegedly used in “serious crimes” in Mexico.
“It’s evident that there is arms trafficking, and that it’s known that these weapons are aimed at our country,” Ebrard declared in a social media video.
Ebrard believes that if the US were serious about taming Mexico’s current drug war problems, “we also want them to help us by reducing this flow of weapons that does us a lot of harm.”
This case was originally filed in a federal district court in Tucson. It is directed against Ammo A-Z, Diamondback Shooting Sports, Loan Prairie, SNG Tactical, and Sprague’s Sports.
The lawsuit outlined how “Each defendant [gun dealers] knowingly participates in trafficking guns into Mexico,” which is allegedly in violation of the prominent US anti-racketeering law RICO.
This new lawsuit comes on the heels of a federal judge’s dismissal of a $10 billion lawsuit filed by Mexico against US gunmakers. The lawsuit was filed in 2021 and was aimed at holding gun manufacturers responsible for making it easier for Mexican cartels to obtain these weapons.
The new lawsuit follows the dismissal by a federal judge in late September of a historic $10 billion lawsuit filed by Mexico against US gun manufacturers last year seeking to hold them responsible for facilitating the trafficking of weapons to drug cartels.
Mexico is currently appealing the dismissal of the first lawsuit. It claims that the lawsuit will be reaching the US Supreme Court this time around.
Mexico’s gun violence problems are a product of its endemic corruption and draconian gun control laws that leave lawful Mexicans at the mercy of violent drug cartels. To be sure, it doesn’t help that the US has a relatively porous border that allows for criminals to operate with virtual impunity and be able to conduct all sorts of illicit activity at will.
However, none of this has to do with the US’s lack of gun control but rather the institutional failure of Mexico in maintaining public order and the US not taking its border security seriously. Most of this could be solved by simply getting the US to secure its border, while Mexico allows for lawful citizens to get armed in addition to having the Mexican state fully bring Mexican drug cartels to justice.
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