WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday threw out the Mexican government’s lawsuit against U.S. firearms manufacturers accusing them of aiding and abetting gun violence.
The court ruled unanimously that the lawsuit is barred by a 2005 federal law that shields gun companies from legal liability.
Liberal Justice Elena Kagan, who wrote the opinion, acknowledged the gun violence problem but said Mexico had failed to make allegations that would surmount those liability protections in claiming the companies aided and abetted the unlawful sale of guns.
“Mexico’s complaint does not plausibly allege that the defendant manufacturers aided and abetted gun dealers’ unlawful sales of firearms to Mexican traffickers,” Kagan wrote.
“We have little doubt that, as the complaint asserts, some such sales take place — and that the manufacturers know they do,” she added. “But still, Mexico has not adequately pleaded what it needs to.”
The 2021 lawsuit accused Smith & Wesson, Colt, Glock and other companies of deliberately selling guns to dealers who sell products that are frequently recovered at Mexican crime scenes.
The Mexican government said the aiding and abetting allegations meant that the companies were not protected by the federal immunity shield, called the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. Mexico was seeking up to $10 billion in damages.
Jonathan Lowy, president of Global Action on Gun Violence and one of Mexico’s lawyers in the case, said in a statement that the ruling is “the clearest evidence yet that the gun industry’s special interest get-out-of-court-free card must be revoked.”
Noel Francisco, a lawyer representing Smith & Wesson who argued the case on behalf of all the companies, said in a statement that the ruling simply reflected what Congress intended when it passed the shield law.
“Our client makes a legal, constitutionally protected product that millions of Americans buy and use, and we are gratified that the Supreme Court agreed that we are not legally responsible for criminals misusing that product to hurt people, much less smuggling it to Mexico to be used by drug cartels,” he added.
A federal judge initially ruled for the manufacturers, but the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived the case last year, saying the liability shield did not extend to Mexico’s specific claims.
The case reached the Supreme Court following increased tensions between American and Mexican leaders after the re-election of President Donald Trump, who has cited drug trafficking and gang violence in Mexico amid his crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
Democrats in Congress have introduced legislation intended to reduce the flow of guns across the border, which they estimate to total at least 200,000 a year.
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