Mexico hopes of getting a free billion dollars from the American firearm industry look in grave peril now that the US Supreme Court took Mexico’s lawsuit out of the hands of the 1st District Court of Appeals and put it on the docket for this new court term.
If I was a bettin’ man, Mexico’s gonna be crying the blues before next June.
But this is MUCH bigger than that. Plenty of antigun hell-hole cities (Chicago, cough) are trying to do end runs around the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. Hopefully SCOTUS will bolster PLCAA and put an end to these efforts to bankrupt the firearms industry.
From TTAG:
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear the case concerning Mexico suing some U.S. gun manufacturers for allegedly putting guns into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.
Mexico claims the companies deliberately chose to “profit off the criminal market for their products” and caused a flood of guns to fall into the hands of Mexican cartels. And the Mexican government wants the companies to pay billions of dollars in damages.
In August, a Federal Judge in Boston dismissed several companies from the lawsuit, including Sturm, Ruger and Company, Glock, Barrett Firearms, Colt’s Manufacturing, Century International Arms and Beretta. Companies still involved in the lawsuit include gunmaker Smith & Wesson and wholesaler Whitmer Public Safety Group.
Of course, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) precludes frivolous lawsuits against the firearm industry for damages caused by the criminal and unlawful acts of remote third parties. Consequently, a U.S. District court dismissed the case, finding the claims were barred by the PLCAA.
However, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals revived the case on Mexico’s appeal, holding that Mexico’s claims alleging that the defendants know their regular business practices contribute to illegal firearm trafficking fit within a narrow exception to the PLCAA.
Maybe Mexico should take it up with the cartels. They are the ones pulling the trigger.