US judge tosses out Mexico’s massive lawsuit against gun manufacturers

A federal judge on Friday dismissed a $10 million lawsuit brought by the Mexican government against gun makers they accused of facilitating the trafficking of weapons across the U.S.-Mexico border to drug cartels.

Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor said in a Boston federal court that federal law bars lawsuits against gun manufacturers seeking to hold them responsible for when people use the weapons for their intended purpose, Reuters reported. 

“While the court has considerable sympathy for the people of Mexico, and none whatsoever for those who traffic guns to Mexican criminal organizations, it is duty-bound to follow the law,” Saylor wrote in a 44-page decision.

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Saylor said the law contains some narrow exceptions but none applied to the lawsuit brought by the Mexican government. The defendants in the suit included Smith & Wesson Brands Inc., Sturm, Ruger & Co and other gun makers. 

Mexico said it will appeal the ruling. 

“This suit by the Mexican government has received worldwide recognition and has been considered a turning point in the discussion around the gun industry’s responsibility for the violence experience in Mexico and the region,” Mexico’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Many of the weapons used by Mexican drug cartels have been traced back to the United States as violence continues to fuel bloody conflicts between criminal groups. 

“The crime that is devastating the people of Mexico is not the fault of members of the firearm industry, that under U.S. law, can only sell their lawful products to Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights after passing a background check,” said Lawrence Keane, the general counsel of firearm industry trade group National Shooting Sports Foundation.