We wrote a while back that Mexico is suing US gun manufacturers because their products are heavily used by drug gangs and criminals in Mexico. Got shot down, right?
Now, we in the US have a law passed a couple of decades back called the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA). At that time, one of the key tactics used by gun-ban groups was to sue gun manufactures at the drop of a hat . Kid uses a 40 year old Colt to shoot someone? Sue Colt. Gun store gets robbed and a stolen Glock is used to rob someone three states away? Sue Glock. The idea was that if they continually forced gun makers to defend these bull$hit suits, pretty soon they would go bankrupt from legal fees even if they never lost. PLCAA says that if the guns are legally manufactured and sold, the gun companies’ responsibility for wrong-doing ends there.
If the gun is defective or deceptively marketed, they are still liable. (This is the “protection gun makers from lawsuits no other manufacturer has” that Biden and company whines about. Most companies are already protected by case law – you can sue a bar for serving a drunk driver because they are a proximate cause, but not Ford because they made the drunk’s Mustang, right?) The plethora of suits caused Congress to pass PLCAA.
But here is how the gun groups describe it:
PLCAA is a law that protects the gun industry from civil liability for harm caused by negligence, defective products, or irresponsible behavior. It denies justice to victims and survivors of gun violence and perpetuates the flow of crime guns into communities of color. Brady.org
So many lies…
Anyhoo, Mexico is suing seven manufacturers and a distributor, alleging negligence, defective product, barratry, piracy, simony, and for all I know indecent exposure. (They also want to know how Mexican Army guns wind up in the hands of the narco-gangs… cough cough ARMY CORRUPTION cough cough. Different article.)
Now, any normal person would say they can’t do that, right? They’ve already been shot down once. Oh no… the 1st Circuit steps in.
U.S. appeals court on Monday revived a $10 billion lawsuit by Mexico seeking to hold American gun manufacturers responsible for facilitating the trafficking of weapons to drug cartels across the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturnedThe Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned
, a lower-court judge’s decision dismissing the case on the grounds that a U.S. law barred Mexico from suing Smith & Wesson Brands (SWBI.O), Sturm, Ruger & Co and others.
Mexico’s lawyers argued the law only bars lawsuits over injuries that occur in the U.S. and does not shield the seven manufacturers and one distributor it sued from liability over the trafficking of guns to Mexican criminals.
U.S. Circuit Judge William Kayatta, writing for the three-judge panel, said that while the law can be applied to lawsuits by foreign governments, Mexico’s lawsuit “plausibly alleges a type of claim that is statutorily exempt from the PLCAA’s general prohibition.”
He said that was because the law was only designed to protect lawful firearms-related commerce, yet Mexico had accused the companies of aiding and abetting illegal gun sales by facilitating the trafficking of firearms into the country.
Reuters
Knowing that other than warranty work, once gun companies sell their guns to a distributor they are legally protected, should be sufficient. But these judges (whose decisions were reversed two out of three times last year
ballotopedia) are saying “well, since it is not a US suit it can proceed” (?!)
Welcome to Ford getting sued for making that Mustang. Kinda makes you want to sue Mexico for all that fentanyl coming from them…
