{"id":2409610,"date":"2025-03-04T16:12:01","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T21:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-looks-set-to-reject-mexicos-10-billion-gun-challenge\/"},"modified":"2025-03-04T16:18:32","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T21:18:32","slug":"supreme-court-looks-set-to-reject-mexicos-10-billion-gun-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-looks-set-to-reject-mexicos-10-billion-gun-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court looks set to reject Mexico\u2019s $10 billion gun challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsupreme-court-looks-set-to-reject-mexicos-10-billion-gun-challenge%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2409610&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The U.S. Supreme\u2064 court is currently reviewing a significant lawsuit brought by mexico\u2063 against major \u2064American gun manufacturers, including Smith \u2063&#038; Wesson and Glock, which claims that these companies have contributed to illegal arms trafficking\u2063 that \u2062fuels cartel violence in Mexico. MexicoS lawsuit, filed in\u200c 2020, seeks\u200d $10 billion\u200c in damages, alleging that the companies design and market guns in ways that make them \u2064appealing\u2063 to drug cartels.<\/p>\n<p>During\u200c recent oral arguments, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-defends-student-loans-move-ahead-of-supreme-court-ruling-biden-fought-for-you\/\" title=\"White House stands by student loans decision before Supreme ... ruling: Biden&#039;s unwavering support for students.\">justices expressed skepticism<\/a> regarding Mexico&#8217;s legal grounds for\u200b the case, primarily \u200bunder the Protection of Lawful commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), \u200cwhich\u200c provides liability protection \u2062to gun manufacturers when their\u200d products are misused.They questioned how Mexico would prove\u2063 the extent to which U.S. weapons end up \u2063in the hands of\u2062 cartels and whether this could establish liability.<\/p>\n<p>The arguments reflect a deep concern\u200b about the implications of the case, with justices suggesting that allowing it to \u200bproceed could set a dangerous precedent, potentially exposing numerous industries to liability for the misuse of their products. The outcome of this case is expected to have broad ramifications not\u200b only \u200cfor the legal landscape surrounding gun manufacturers but also for future cases were companies are held accountable for the misuse of their products.<\/p>\n<p>Legal analysts are closely watching the proceedings, given\u200b the rising tensions between the U.S. and Mexico and the potential to \u2063reshape\u200d the operational landscape for firearm companies in the U.S. A decision from the Supreme Court is anticipated later this \u2064year,\u200d which will clarify the legal protections available to gun manufacturers in the context of criminal misuse of their products.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Supreme Court looks set to reject Mexico&rsquo;s $10 billion gun challenge<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2022672\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/supreme-court\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Supreme Court<\/a> on Tuesday appeared likely to block a $10 billion lawsuit brought by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/mexico\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Mexico<\/a> against major U.S. gun manufacturers, with justices expressing skepticism that the case fits within legal exceptions that could hold firearm companies liable for cartel violence.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Mexico&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/3335205\/supreme-court-weighs-mexico-challenge-us-gun-makers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">lawsuit<\/a>, filed in 2020, accuses gunmakers such as Smith &amp; Wesson, Beretta, Colt, and Glock of fueling illegal arms trafficking by designing, marketing, and selling weapons that end up in the hands of Mexican cartels. The companies argue that U.S. law, specifically the 2005&nbsp;Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, shields them from liability when their products are misused.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Justices question Mexico&rsquo;s legal theory<\/h2>\n<p>During oral arguments, both conservative and liberal justices cast doubt on whether Mexico&rsquo;s claims could bypass the PLCAA&rsquo;s broad protections. Justice&nbsp;Brett Kavanaugh&nbsp;warned that allowing the lawsuit to proceed could set a precedent for expanding liability across various industries.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a real concern for me,&rdquo; Kavanaugh said, noting that many products, such as alcohol and cars, can be misused in criminal activity.<\/p>\n<p>Chief Justice&nbsp;John Roberts&nbsp;questioned how much of the U.S. gun market would need to be linked to trafficking before manufacturers could be held responsible.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Do you know what the percentage of those guns that are sold in the United States compared to the ones found in Mexico is?&rdquo; Roberts asked&nbsp;Emily Stetson, an attorney representing Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>Stetson admitted she did not have an exact percentage but argued that the key issue was the sheer volume of smuggled firearms. She emphasized that U.S. guns are &ldquo;coveted by the cartels,&rdquo; pointing out that many cartel leaders are arrested with American-made weapons.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Gunmakers reject liability argument<\/h2>\n<p>Noel Francisco, an attorney for&nbsp;Smith &amp; Wesson, dismissed Mexico&rsquo;s claims as legally unfounded.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Indeed, if Mexico is right, then every law enforcement organization in America has missed the largest criminal conspiracy in history operating right under their nose, and Budweiser is liable for every accident caused by underage drinkers since it knows that teenagers will buy beer, drive drunk, and crash,&rdquo; Francisco argued.<\/p>\n<p>Francisco also pointed to precedent in the 2023 case of <em>Twitter v. Taamneh<\/em>, in which the social media platform was not held liable for aiding and abetting terrorist attacks because there was a lack of evidence that it knowingly helped the Islamic State group.<\/p>\n<p>Stetson pushed back, likening the gunmakers&rsquo; alleged actions to a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">beer company knowingly supplying liquor stores<\/a> that cater to underage drinkers. However,&nbsp;Justice Sonia Sotomayor&nbsp;reminded her that under U.S. law, &ldquo;affirmative action&rdquo; is required to prove aiding and abetting criminal activity &mdash; not just knowledge of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Legal and political implications<\/h2>\n<p>The case unfolds amid&nbsp;rising tensions between the U.S. and Mexico, as President&nbsp;Donald Trump&rsquo;s new tariffs on Mexican imports take effect. Trump has framed the tariffs as a pressure tactic to force Mexico to crack down on fentanyl trafficking and illegal immigration.<\/p>\n<p>Lower courts have been divided on the lawsuit&rsquo;s viability. A&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/aclu-targets-anti-woke-medical-group-do-no-harm\/\" title=\"ACLU focuses on Do No Harm, an anti-woke medical group\">federal judge initially dismissed<\/a> the case, citing PLCAA protections. However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the&nbsp;1st Circuit revived it, ruling that Mexico had adequately alleged the gunmakers &ldquo;aided and abetted the knowingly unlawful downstream trafficking of their guns into Mexico.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court&rsquo;s decision, expected by late June, could&nbsp;set a precedent for future lawsuits against gun manufacturers, including those brought by mass shooting victims seeking to hold firearm companies accountable.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Industry supporters call for dismissal<\/h2>\n<p>Matthew Forys, executive vice president of&nbsp;Landmark, defended the gun manufacturers in a statement to the&nbsp;<em>Washington Examiner<\/em>, calling the lawsuit an attempt to regulate the firearms industry through litigation.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Mexico sued American firearms companies in federal court, claiming that the companies are aiding and abetting Mexican cartels,&rdquo; Forys said. &ldquo;Mexico is asking for billions of dollars in damages, which could bankrupt much of the American firearms industry.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/3335205\/supreme-court-weighs-mexico-challenge-us-gun-makers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"SUPREME COURT WEIGHS MEXICO'S CHALLENGE AGAINST US GUNMAKERS\">SUPREME COURT WEIGHS MEXICO&rsquo;S CHALLENGE AGAINST US GUNMAKERS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Forys contends that Congress made clear that the industry should not be held liable for the criminal or unlawful use of their products. &ldquo;This case is an attempt to regulate industry through litigation and should be dismissed,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>As the Supreme Court deliberates, the case will serve as a key test of&nbsp;gun manufacturers&rsquo; legal protections in the nation. The ruling could determine whether firearm companies face new liability risks or the industry remains insulated from lawsuits related to criminal misuse of their products.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2022672\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2022672\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supreme Court likely to dismiss Mexico&#8217;s $10 billion gun lawsuit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2633,"featured_media":2409611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/AP519391335239.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[33298,33907,37612,5370,32275],"class_list":["post-2409610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-10-billion","tag-gun-laws","tag-legal-challenge","tag-mexico","tag-supreme-court"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/AP519391335239.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2409610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2633"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2409610"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2409610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2409614,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2409610\/revisions\/2409614"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2409611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2409610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2409610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2409610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}