Mexico can sue gun manufacturers in the US. This was decided this Monday by the Court of Appeals of the First District, which ruled in favor of the Mexican government and reopened the case filed by it against some of the most important names in the defense industry of the neighboring country. The matter will now be sent back for reconsideration to a Massachusetts court, the same one that dismissed the lawsuit in September 2022. “Great news,” said Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena.
The main obstacle to the Mexican cause is the Protection of Legal Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), a law introduced during the George W. Bush administration that protects the defense industry from lawsuits arising from the misuse of their products. This legal protection and the immunity it grants to gun manufacturers was the argument used to dismiss the case in the first instance in a Massachusetts court. On that occasion, the Court of Appeal ruled that the lawsuit brought by the Mexican authorities against six gun stores and a gun dealer plausibly explained why immunity does not apply in this case.
Ebrard, then chancellor, shows a map of the impact of illegal weapons in Mexico in 2019.ERIC BARADAT (AFP)
“Therefore, we reverse the district court’s decision that the PLCAA prevents Mexico from filing its lawsuit and request that the trial be reopened,” reads the decision, to which EL PAÍS had access. The verdict is historic. It is the first time an appeals court has made a decision on the matter since the law granting immunity to gun shops came into effect in 2005. “It is a huge step forward to hold the arms industry accountable for its contribution to armed violence and to stop the arms trade to the cartels,” Jonathan Lowy, one of the lawyers representing the Mexican government, said in a statement.
The companies sued by Mexico include Smith & Wesson, Barrett, Beretta, Glock, Colt's and Ruger, makers of the weapons most popular with Mexican cartels. The Mexican government accuses them of negligent business practices: it asserts that they have deliberate marketing and product design strategies to attract criminal groups and profit from illegal trade. While the drugs travel from south to north, the guns come in the opposite direction. According to the lawsuit, the defendant companies produce 68% of the hundreds of thousands of weapons that enter the country illegally each year.
The case against the arms producers was falsified during Marcelo Ebrard's tenure at the Foreign Ministry. The aim was to put the gun dealers in the dock for the first time so they could respond to the wave of violence plaguing the Latin American country. The lawsuit dates back to August 2021 and was originally filed against 11 companies. The Mexican government had to overcome several legal hurdles, such as proving that it has legal personality to conduct the trial in the United States or that the facts alleged can be adjudicated by a U.S. court even though they have implications for Mexico. Mexican authorities are seeking damages that will be determined by the court but could be as high as 2% of Mexico's GDP, diplomatic sources told this newspaper more than two years ago.
“This is a big step,” said Ebrard, who left his post as foreign minister in June last year to run for the ruling Morena party’s presidential candidacy. Bárcena, his successor in office, called this Monday on the US authorities to further investigate the arms trade to Mexico, which is exclusively reserved for the US Army. The issue has become a constant at the bilateral negotiating table and at diplomatic meetings between the two countries, such as the ministerial meeting of both governments in Washington last week. On the legal front, the fight returns to Massachusetts, a process that is expected to take several years.