{"id":27046,"date":"2024-01-24T06:03:08","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T11:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=27046"},"modified":"2024-01-24T06:03:08","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T11:03:08","slug":"us-appeals-court-revives-mexicos-10bn-lawsuit-against-gunmakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2024\/01\/24\/us-appeals-court-revives-mexicos-10bn-lawsuit-against-gunmakers\/","title":{"rendered":"US appeals court revives Mexico’s $10bn lawsuit against gunmakers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A US appeals court has ruled that a $10bn lawsuit filed by Mexico against US gun manufacturers can go ahead, reviving a long-running legal battle.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mexico’s government argues that the “flood” of illegal guns across the border is a result of “deliberate” business practices by the US gunmakers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A lower court had dismissed the case in late 2022, prompting an appeal from the Mexican government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The gun industry’s trade association has denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Among the companies named in the lawsuit are Smith & Wesson, Glock, Beretta, Barrett, Sturm and Ruger.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mexican authorities allege that tens of thousands of US-manufactured guns are trafficked south across the border each year, providing drug cartels with easy access to massive arsenals used to fight each other and the Mexican government. Some estimates put the total at over half a million weapons each year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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More than 30,000 people were murdered last year in Mexico, which has extremely restrictive gun laws. The country is home to only one gun shop, housed in a Mexico City military complex.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The lawsuit, which was first filed in 2021 in a federal courthouse in Massachusetts – where several of the companies are based – argued that the manufacturers knew that guns were being sold to traffickers fuelling violence in the country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But in 2022 a US federal judge dismissed the case on the grounds that the gun manufacturers were protected by a 2005 law known as the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. The law, also known as the PLCAA, shields gunmakers from damages “resulting from the criminal or unlawful misuse” of their products.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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