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Greater than a dozen US states have sided with the Mexican authorities in its lawsuit towards US gun producers the place it accuses them of being responsible for an increase in gun violence within the nation.
A coalition of 14 attorneys basic, from 13 Democratic states and Washington DC, filed a quick with the US District Court docket for the District of Massachusetts this week arguing that gunmakers are usually not shielded from accountability over the place their firearms wind up.
Final August, the Mexican authorities sued a few of America’s greatest gunmakers together with Smith & Wesson and Glock claiming they had been knowingly contributing to the unlawful trafficking of firearms to drug cartels and different criminals in Mexico.
The gun producers pushed again and sought to dismiss the case in November, arguing that they’re shielded from legal responsibility beneath the Safety of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA).
The PLCAA is a US federal legislation that protects gun producers and sellers from being held liable when crimes are dedicated with their merchandise.
The Mexican authorities argued that the legislation doesn’t apply because the crimes in query are being carried out in Mexico and never within the US.
The US state attorneys basic sided with Mexico this week, arguing that the PLCAA doesn’t defend gun producers and sellers from state’s client legal guidelines governing the advertising and marketing and sale of firearms.
“Whereas Congress supposed PLCAA to bar lawsuits in search of to carry gun producers and sellers responsible for harms dedicated by third events, it additionally preserved cures for harms dedicated by producers and sellers themselves, as once they violate client safety legal guidelines relevant to the sale and advertising and marketing of weapons,” the coalition wrote within the temporary.
“Mexico’s lawsuit alleges the defendants themselves knowingly violated widespread legislation duties and statutes relevant to the sale or advertising and marketing of firearms. PLCAA is just not, accordingly, a legitimate protection to Mexico’s lawsuit.”
Massachusetts AG Maura Healey, who led the multistate temporary, mentioned in a press release that it’s “unacceptable” for gun producers to facilitate the unlawful arms commerce.
“It’s unacceptable for gun producers and distributors to knowingly market their merchandise in a approach that facilitates the unlawful trafficking of weapons into the palms of harmful people,” she mentioned.
“We urge the Court docket to acknowledge that gun sellers, producers, and distributors could also be held accountable beneath state legal guidelines for a way they market and promote their merchandise.”
The states are calling on a US federal courtroom to disclaim the gunmakers’ movement to dismiss the case and permit the lawsuit to maneuver ahead.
A separate temporary was additionally filed by a coalition of US district attorneys in help of the Mexica lawsuit, saying that the unlawful trafficking of weapons into Mexico has additionally led to an increase in gun violence within the US.
Antigua and Barbuda and Belize additionally filed a 3rd temporary arguing that Latin America and Caribbean nations are additionally being impacted by an increase in drug trafficking due to US gunmakers sending weapons to Mexico.
“The defendant gun producers ship weapons to Mexico, the place transnational drug cartels use them to inflict violence on each side of the border,” they mentioned in a press release.
“These gun producers are empowering the drug traffickers flooding our streets with fentanyl and methamphetamines.”
Mexico’s lawsuit, filed in Massachusetts, accuses items of gun producers together with Smith & Wesson, Glock, Beretta, Ruger and others of reckless enterprise practices which facilitate the trafficking of weapons to harmful cartels.
The businesses allegedly use “advertising and marketing methods to advertise weapons which can be ever extra deadly, with out mechanisms of safety or traceability”, the go well with alleges.
Below Mexico’s gun sale legal guidelines, firearms can solely be purchased legally in a single retailer in Mexico metropolis.
The Mexican authorities claims that criminals and cartels as an alternative get their palms on firearms illegally trafficked throughout the border.
Between 2014 and 2018, round 70 % of all firearms recovered in Mexico had been traced again to the US, in keeping with a report from the US Authorities Accountability Workplace.
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