From Border Issue To Court Case: Mexico Sues American Gun Manufactuers

Hecho en USA.

Flags of the United States of America and Mexico DividedIt is not uncommon to hear about our “border problem” with Mexico. But that’s the funny thing about osmosis —- all of the involved parties are effected by the relation. It isn’t all intimidating people with whips on horseback. Mexico has a border problem too; American made guns are finding their way into the hands of cartel members.

Mexico has filed another lawsuit in the United States against US companies it says are fueling a surge in homicides and the flow of illegal weapons into the country, the Mexican foreign minister announced.

Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said the new lawsuit targets five US gun dealers — all based in the state of Arizona — that have contributed to the widespread availability of weapons in Mexico and the country’s high homicide rate.

The move comes just more than a week after a US judge dismissed a separate $10bn lawsuit Mexico filed last year against 11 US gun manufacturers.

“If we do not stop this large influx of weapons to Mexico, how could we stop the violence here?” Ebrard said in a video shared on Twitter on Monday.

These aren’t small time defendants either, names like Sprague’s Sports, SNG Tactical, Diamondback Shooting Sports, Lone Prairie D/B/A Hub Target Sports and Ammo AZ are on the complaint. A prior suit targeted the likes of Smith & Wesson Brands, Ruger & Co, and Glock.

Our gun glut burdens both of our bookends. Mass shooting victims in Toronto took Smith and Wesson to court, not to mention one of President Trudeau’s warrants for justifying a handgun ban was the promise of nipping gun crime in the bud before they ended up like the states below. It is hard to say he’s doesn’t have a point.

As we think about the legal avenues for implementing common sense gun control, it is worth thinking about how common sensical our notion of common sense is, given that we are the only country where mass shootings happen with regularity. This isn’t just an armchair endeavor either — the practical interconnectedness of our gun advocacy and jurisprudence have a causal connection to death tolls, both here and abroad. For example, at least 17,000 of the 2019 deaths in Mexico trace back to American made guns. After Bruen, I don’t really see that number decreasing any time soon.


Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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