The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear a bid by U.S. gun maker Smith & Wesson to throw out Mexico’s lawsuit accusing them of aiding the illegal trafficking of firearms to Mexican drug cartels.
The United States Supreme Court took up an appeal by the gun manufacturer of a lower court’s refusal to dismiss Mexico’s suit, which was filed in federal court in Boston in 2021, under a 2005 U.S. law that broadly shields gun companies from liability for crimes committed with their products.
Mexico’s complaint included allegations that Smith & Wesson violated state laws by “aiding and abetting the trafficking of guns to Mexican drug cartels, helping to fuel what Mexico has called an ‘epidemic of violence.’”
Additionally, Mexico is demanding the Supreme Court issue a complete ban on production of AR-15 and AK-47 platform rifles.
Smith & Wesson, who is seeking to dismiss the suit, argued that the litigation was barred by the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which protects firearms manufacturers and distributors from liability for the criminal misuse of their products.
U.S. District Judge Dennis Saylor in Boston threw out the case, finding that this law “seeks to prohibit exactly the type of claim that currently before this court.
On appeal, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision and ruled the suit should proceed.
In appealing to the Supreme Court, Smith & Wesson argued that the suit seeks to “bully the industry into adopting a host of gun control measures that have been repeatedly rejected by American voters.”
The National Association for Gun Rights is collecting Civis Directivum signatures – latin for “Citizen’s Directive” — from their members to present to the Supreme Court.
These Civis Directivum signatures demand the court immediately dismiss the case and send a loud-and-clear message that no foreign entity will ever have standing to file lawsuits related to Second Amendment freedoms in U.S. Courts.
Read more at Yahoo.
