Second Amendment Roundup: Supreme Court Grants Cert in Mexico v. Smith & Wesson
On October 4, the Supreme Court granted cert in Smith & Wesson Brands v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos. It involves Mexico’s suit against the American firearms industry, which alleges that the industry enables the drug cartels to empower their stranglehold over Mexican society. The First Circuit upheld the claim by reversing the dismissal of the case granted by the District Court in Massachusetts.
The absurdity of Mexico’s lawsuit is illuminated by action in another case just days later. On October 16, U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn sentenced Genaro Garcia Luna to 460 months imprisonment for engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, international cocaine distribution conspiracy, conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine, and conspiracy to import cocaine. But Luna wasn’t just another El Chapo, whom Judge Cogan sent to the big house five years ago.
For over a decade, Luna was the head of Mexico’s Federal Investigative Agency, and then became Secretary of Public Security. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Luna “used his official positions to assist the violent Sinaloa Cartel (the Cartel) in exchange for millions of dollars in bribes.” That included “facilitating safe passage of the drug shipments, providing sensitive law enforcement information about investigations into the Cartel and helping the Cartel attack rival drug cartels….” He thereby enabled over a million kilograms (over 2.2 million pounds) of cocaine to be imported into the United States.
But corruption-ridden Mexico wants to blame America’s lawful gun industry for its status as a failed state. In the cert petition, the petitioners describe the background to the question presented as follows:
The Mexican Government has sued leading members of the American firearms industry, seeking to hold them liable for harms inflicted by Mexican drug cartels. According to Mexico, America’s firearms companies have engaged in a series of business practices for decades—from selling semi-automatic rifles, to making magazines that hold over ten rounds, to failing to impose various sales restrictions—that have created a supply of firearms later smuggled across the border and ultimately used by the cartels to commit crimes. Mexico asks for billions of dollars in damages, plus extensive injunctive relief imposing new gun-control measures in the United States.
The district court dismissed the case under the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which generally bars suits against firearms companies based on criminals misusing their products. But the First Circuit reversed. It held that PLCAA does not bar this suit because Mexico stated a claim that defendants’ business practices have aided and abetted firearms trafficking to the
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