Mexican government may proceed in its lawsuit against five US gun dealers

Report from the Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/26/mexico-lawsuit-us-gun-dealers
A trial court in Arizona has ruled that the Mexican government may proceed in its trailblazing lawsuit against five US gun dealers, who stand accused of facilitating gun trafficking across the border into Mexico.

Mexico argues that the companies’ marketing campaigns and distribution practices mean that they are legally responsible for the bloodshed that their guns contribute to.

This is the second such case that the Mexican government has brought in US courts this year, having also accused US gun manufacturers of facilitating the cross-border arms traffic in a case in Massachusetts.

“[The Mexican lawsuits] emphasize the responsibility of companies regarding how they produce and sell their weapons,” said Carlos Pérez-Ricart, a political scientist in Mexico.

 

time for millions of Americans to file lawsuits against the mexican government for all the crimes committed by Mexican illegals in the USA. I doubt this nonsense will make it past a court of appeals though. This is an attempt by a corrupt and criminal mexican government trying to shift blame for it's own failures or even outright support of criminal enterprises in that corrupt nation

 

The judge is a latina from Los Angeles who was appointed by Obama. Wonder how she feels about the second amendment. Any guesses?

 

In my opinion, they have no ground to sue just on the basis of gun dealer marketing, though that could be used as supporting evidence.

I suspect they're trying to play fast and loose with the definition of "facilitating". (Typical legal tactic to try to stretch the meaning of words)

What this will really depend on is exactly what "distribution practices" the companies are being accused of. No surprise the linked news article does not say or give any detail on that.

 

there is no doubt that leftist politicians and leftist lower court judges are going to try to do an end around the federal law that prevents law suits against gun makers based on the illegal actions of those who acquire their firearms, in an effort to ban guns. Judges who oppose those crap need to impose Federal Rule 11 sanctions against plaintiffs and lawyers who file these lawsuits

 

It would seem like Mexico would have more of a point to say if they were to sue the Obama ATF era administration for the fast and the furious providing all of the cartels the guns

 

It's an obvious example of how if you get bad judges, they can completely ignore the law they don't like.

(Which I'll point out I don't entirely always disapprove of, but in this case we're talking about due to wacky ideological-political bias, done in an attempt to take away rights from the party being accused)

 

According to a Yale educated law professor and legal scholar, this lawsuit could be a real game changer:

"If Mexico does win at trial, its demand for $10 billion in damages could drive several of the nation’s largest firearm manufacturers into bankruptcy. Even if the case were to settle for much less, a victory by Mexico would provide a template for a wave of future lawsuits that could change the way the gun industry operates.

"Similar theories about dangerous product designs, irresponsible marketing and reckless distribution practices in opioid litigation have transformed the pharmaceutical industry. Civil lawsuits have forced the drugmakers to take public responsibility for a nationwide health crisis, overhaul the way they do business and pay billions of dollars in judgments and settlements.

"Mexico’s lawsuit holds out the prospect that the gun industry could be next."
https://arkansasadvocate.com/2024/02/20/mexico-is-suing-us-gunmakers-for-arming-its-gangs

 

gun makers should countersue the Mexican government for a frivolous law suit. this also violates our federal law. the fact that the mexican government buys millions of dollars of US made guns is going to be a major issue too.

This is also a problem-from the article
According to the lawsuit, the manufacturers intentionally design their weapons to be attractive to criminal organizations in Mexico by including features such as easy conversion to fully automatic fire, compatibility with high-capacity magazines and removable serial numbers.

The ATF prevents such easy convertible weapons from being sold and those firearms are exactly what Mexico buys for its law enforcement and military operatives

 

These manufacturers are not marketing to Mexico or shipping product there. The cartels also have AK47s. Are they suing Russia?

 

that's the biggest failure of this suit-intervening actors. This bullshit is instigated and funded by anti gun advocacy groups. The courts need to hit them with ruinous sanctions and hit the corrupt Mexican government with massive punitive sanctions as well

 

Using their logic, which basically hold a manufacturer responsible for how a product is use opens the door for suing any manufacturer whose products have been used that contribute injury or death even if the product is used for criminal purposes such as vehicles, screw drivers, farmable substances, etc; even those combined into DIY weapons ( Sue steel manufacturers, eh? You can make guns and knives from their products.

 

It doesn't meet any of the requirements for normal product liability. If the Mexican government buys similar weapons or issues them to mexican employees, that alone should doom the case. and since none of the defendants sell directly to Mexicans, that too should doom the case

the people who brought these suits should be bankrupted

 

First, that is already the case.
Manufacturers in nearly every field have been sued when faulty products have caused death and injury.

What is the legal responsibility of the manufacturer when their products' SOLE PURPOSE is to kill and injure?
If a company can be sued because death and injury MAY occur what about a company whose products are designed for that function?

 

Oh yes... The liberal myth that guns are only made to kill.

Meanwhile millions of Americans enjoy target shooting and hunting every single day in this nation with no one being maimed injured or killed by their products.

We should sue the Mexican government for letting drugs come across their border and for manufacturing illegal drugs within their nation that they're allowing to come across the border

 

They are probably being helped by the same progressive American politicians who want to disarm the people who keep voting for them.

But meanwhile the hypocrites have no problem whatsoever either carrying guns themselves or being protected by people who are paid to carry guns for those who are too squeamish to do a job their self

 

several flaws there

1) the weapons are not defective
2) the Mexican government issues the same weapons to their agents
3) the corporations being sued have no privity of contract with the corrupt mexican government

 

gun banners don't care about traditional legal requirements for tort suits. Gun banners don't care about how idiotic such suits are. Gun banners don't care about anything other than punishing gun owners and gun makers for political purposes

 

Odd that Mexico never tried to sue the US govt for deliberately shipping guns directly to the cartels...

"The failed operation might have contributed to the deaths of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and an unknown number of Mexican citizens. It also created an ongoing public safety hazard on both sides of the border. The failures happened because of conscious decisions not to interdict weapons and not to stop suspects in the hope that they would lead to cartel connections and a larger case."
Congressional Investigators Release First Part of Final Joint Report on Operation Fast and Furious - United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability

"As part of Operation Fast and Furious, ATF allowed 1,961 guns to "walk" out of the U.S. in an effort to identify the high profile cartel leaders who received them. The agency eventually lost track of the weapons, and they often ended up in the hands of Mexican hit men , including those who ordered and carried out the attack on Salvarcar and El Aliviane, a rehabilitation center in Ciudad Juarez where 18 young men were killed on September 2, 2009."
Fast and Furious Scandal: New Details Emerge on How the U.S. Government Armed Mexican Drug Cartels - ABC News

But sure, lets blame the manufacturers...

I don't see any double standard here at all!

 

Faulty products I s on3 thing, but these folk want to sue over how a product is used; Never fly in the higher courts except the 9th that is fre quently over turned (80%)

 

I'm not so sure "the product performs as intended when killing people" is quite the defense you seem to think.

 

Aside from hunting a gun that can’t kill is not much use for self defense else LE and the Milit army wouldn’t issue them.

 

Pretty sure "self defense" isn't the issue.

 

no finding a way to garass gun owners is.

 

the first thing the defense needs to raise is why the Mexican government issues such weapons to its army and police