In case you missed it, the United States Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in the case of Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos. While it may sound like a landmark case of a sovereign foreign nation taking necessary legal action to protect their citizens against American arms manufacturers, the truth is a lot simpler. It’s just another extremist gun control ploy to restrict United States Second Amendment rights.
The WICKEDLY short version of the case.
Mexico is attempting to sue firearms manufacturers for $10 Billion for crimes committed in Mexico. They allege the American firearm manufacturers are responsible for the illegal sale and smuggling of firearms into Mexico and is the cause of cartel violence in the country.
The initial suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Boston in 2021, which was dismissed by that district court based on the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) that prohibits frivolous lawsuits against the firearm industry for the criminal misuse by remote third parties.
Mexico appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, which revived the lawsuit holding that Mexico’s “aiding and abetting” theory fit within one of the PLCAA’s narrow exceptions. Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc., et al., successfully petitioned the Supreme Court last year and the nine justices took turns asking lawyers for both parties why this case should be dismissed or allowed to proceed.
A link to the oral arguments on March 4th, 2025, is listed below and will give you some insight to the thinking of the Court.
In considering this, we need to recognize how heavily regulated the firearm industry is in the United States and how a firearm gets to the illegal market in Mexico. Manufacturers typically sell to distributors, who sell to retailers, the final Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL) who sells to the public with a federal form 4473 and background check. The first illegal act is that of a straw purchaser who buys the firearm and provides it to someone who then smuggles it across the border to Mexico, another crime. The firearm is then provided to the cartels, another crime, who uses it to commit their crimes.
There is also the myth about 90% of the firearms used by the cartels come from United States FFLs. The truth is that less than 12 percent of the firearms Mexico seized in 2008, for example, have been verified as coming from the U.S. In 2008, approximately 30,000 firearms were seized from criminals in Mexico. Of these 30,000, only 7,200 (24 percent) were submitted to the ATF for tracing. This is because only these firearms were likely to have come from the U.S., a determination made by the presence of a U.S. mandated serial number and the firearm’s make and model – requirements under federal law as part of the Gun Control Act of 1968. Of the 7,200 firearms submitted for tracing, only about 4,000 (13 percent) could be traced by the ATF of which roughly 3,480 (12 percent) came from the U.S. Although 3,480 is approximately 90 percent of the firearms successfully traced, it is hardly the mythical 90 percent of the total firearms recovered.
It’s also important to note neither the manufacturer, distributor or retailer are ever made aware of the results of a firearm trace.
Going after legal, licensed firearm manufacturers isn’t a new tactic. In the 1990’s, there were a number of lawsuits filed against the largest manufacturers in an open attempt to bankrupt and shut them down or get them to agree to the gun control lobby’s demands for restrictions on products and sales. Any of the smaller manufacturers who didn’t follow suit would be put out of business, along with retailers if they refused to adopt the gun control mandated policies.
The resulting PLCAA was signed into law in 2005 by President George W. Bush with broad bipartisan support by Congress. The law was spurred by numerous frivolous lawsuits orchestrated by gun control groups to circumvent Congress and put firearm companies out of business based on the criminal misuse of firearms by remote individuals who lack respect for both life and law. The PLCAA has been repeatedly upheld as Constitutional by federal courts.
If you’re wondering where this legal action came from, it’s the very same billionaire/millionaire and taxpayer funded anti-gun/anti-Second Amendment lobbyists and lawyers who are writing laws for cities, states and the federal government in the United States and the rest of the world. The co-counsel for the Mexican government, likely the driving force behind this legal action, is from one of these anti-gun groups. The very same groups who get victims of violence in the United States to attach their names to lawsuits they file against manufacturers, distributors, retailers, transportation companies and individuals.
Mexico’s drug industry is estimated to make between 17 and 38 BILLION dollars PER year. That means they have a huge business to protect, and a huge budget to protect it with. With that buying power they can purchase almost any type of military equipment they want from the world market, including fully automatic firearms, mini-guns, rocket propelled grenades, anti-tank rockets, mines and grenades. These don’t come from firearm retailers in the United States.
Mexico also has a significant desertion problem from their army. Between 2003 and 2009 alone, there were an estimated 150,000 desertions, many taking their military issued weapons with them.
Billions of dollars of annual profit buys a lot of political influence from local politicians, law enforcement, prosecutors and judges to those at the national level, including all branches of the military. Mexico is ranked as 124 out of 180 countries on a corruption index by the watchdog Transparency International. That puts Mexico on par with Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan.
Keep in mind Mexico is the model country for gun control advocates. Mexico has some of the strictest gun control laws in the world and has only ONE gun store in the entire country run by the ONLY entity who can legally purchase firearms from any manufacturer in the world – the Mexican military. For a quick rundown on the gun control situation in Mexico, please see a previous article The Cost of National Gun Control at: https://oddstuffing.com/archives/215
Mexico’s issue isn’t civilian firearms legally manufactured and sold in the United States, it’s Mexico’s own corruption and embracing of the illegal drug and human trafficking trade into the United States. This illegal activity brings billions of dollars into the country each year, with a portion of it being slid into the pockets of people who either look the other way or actively facilitate it.
These are the very people the United States based anti-gun zealots have recruited to be their patsy in their latest attempt to circumvent the PLCAA. The goal is the same, only this time they are using a foreign government to destroy the legal firearm industry in this country.
It is a fool’s errand to predict how the Supreme Court might decide a pending case, however the questions posed by justices indicated their doubts about Mexico’s allegations. Let us hope they will see through the anti-gun lobby’s latest attempt to circumvent the law and restrict our Second Amendment rights further.
A decision is expected at the end of the Supreme Court session in June.
Bob
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