Mexico Is Suing US Gun-Makers for Arming Its Gangs - Truthdig
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The Mexican government is seeking billions of dollars in damages for arms suppliers' role in cross-border gun trafficking.

The Mexican government is seeking billions of dollars in damages for arms suppliers’ role in cross-border gun trafficking.

The government of Mexico is suing U.S. gun-makers for their role in facilitating cross-border gun trafficking that has supercharged violent crime in Mexico.

The lawsuit seeks US$10 billion in damages and a court order to force the companies named in the lawsuit – including Smith & Wesson, Colt, Glock, Beretta and Ruger – to change the way they do business. In January, a federal appeals court in Boston decided that the industry’s immunity shield, which so far has protected gun-makers from civil liability, does not apply to Mexico’s lawsuit.

As a legal scholar who has analyzed lawsuits against the gun industry for more than 25 years, I believe this decision to allow Mexico’s lawsuit to proceed could be a game changer. To understand why, let’s begin with some background about the federal law that protects the gun industry from civil lawsuits.

read more: https://www.truthdig.com/articles/mexico-is-suing-us-gun-makers-for-arming-its-gangs-and-fueling-extreme-violence/

  • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
    214·
    9 months ago

    I know this is a liberal space, so I see a lot of ignorance regarding guns and laws. LiberalGunNut™ with thoughts:

    The meat of their argument:

    Mexico claims that U.S. gun-makers engaged in “deliberate efforts to create and maintain an illegal market for their weapons in Mexico.”

    That, uh, sounds hard to prove as factual.

    …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… easy conversion to fully automatic fire, compatibility with high-capacity magazines…

    Guns are not designed this way. Guns are mechanical devices, they can be hardware hacked. And the hacks are often stupid. The Aurora shooter had to drop his AR-15 right off because his tacticool mag jammed. No one who knows guns will touch the stupid things. Because they weren’t designed to work.

    removable serial numbers

    WTF are they talking about?! I have a shitload of various gun types, none have “removeable” serials. Unless you “remove” them with a power drill and/or file. Hardware hacking.

    …manufacturers distribute their products to dealers whom they know serve as transit points for illegal gunrunning through illegal straw sales, unlicensed sales at gun shows and online, and off-book sales disguised as inventory theft.

    LOL, hell to the no. This is like accusing Big Pharma of selling to street corner dealers. Doesn’t even pass a logical sniff test.

    Gun dealers are wildly strict with paperwork. Know why? Intense government scrutiny and federal penalties for fucking around. Penalties as in, “pound me in the ass prison” penalties. If you don’t believe this, go get your Federal Firearms License. Maybe you’ll qualify? An FFL doesn’t even make you a dealer, merely someone who can do the paperwork to transfer the gun from buyer to seller.

    Straw sales? I doubt that happens much. If it did, the media would, rightfully, be screaming every time they caught a case. Besides, it’s damned near impossible to prove intent. I bought a pistol for my wife for Christmas. Straw sale? No, a gift. But what if she was a “prohibited person” and I didn’t know? (She’s not American so I did my homework, but still…)

    Unlicensed sales at gun show? Only people believe that are people who haven’t been to a gun show. Go ahead, try to purchase a weapon without an FFL. Good luck. (Don’t do this. You’ll get thrown out, likely reported to the cops. Who are standing right there.)

    Online? Maybe Armslist.com? LOL, you can bet the feds got eyes on that place! You’re not equipping a militia out of there. Buncha random crap the sellers don’t want at near-new prices.

    Maybe they got something I don’t know about. 🤷🏻‍♂️ After all, didn’t the industry take a (rightful, IMHO) beating over advertising practices? Can’t find the case I’m looking for, too much noise on the subject.

    • _NoName_@lemmy.ml
      2·
      9 months ago

      Yeah, I suspect most guns are obtained unlawfully via two means: theft and undocumented pass-offs. Part of why serial numbers are removed is so the route by which the gun got to someone is obscured. You have someone willing to lawfully buy firearms or burglarize them, dremmel off the serial numbers so they’re harder to trace, then sell it off for whatever at a profit.

      Also, I think when they say ‘removeable serial number’, they are absolutely counting dremmel-able numbers on the body. I could see manufacturers being able to embed a copy of the serial number; either throughout body of the part or inside the body of the part. For example: every printer in the US has a signature of dots it leaves on the copies it prints, which allow that copy to be traced back to that specific printer. That would undoubtedly complicate manufacturing, though. You’re going from precision milling some billet to all of sudden having to embed some signature into/onto that billet.