Mexico asks US court to continue trial of two gun shops

Ivan Evair Saldana

The newspaper La Jornada
Thursday, August 15, 2024, p. 13

The Mexican government has asked the district court in Boston, Massachusetts, to continue the lawsuit against two arms manufacturing firms in the United States, after the judge in that court ruled out on August 7 a lawsuit against six other companies that were part of the same lawsuit.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) reported that the U.S. court held a hearing yesterday to analyze the next stages in the lawsuit against the companies that the Mexican government accuses of facilitating, due to carelessness and negligencethe trafficking of their weapons to drug cartels in Mexico across the border with the United States, which causes damage in Mexican territory.

At today’s hearing (yesterday), Mexico stressed that it continues to analyze the legal alternatives to follow. Our country also spoke in favor of the trial continuing its course against the two companies against which the lawsuit continues: Smith & Wesson Brands Inc, with the largest number of weapons seized in Mexico, and Witmer Public Safety Group Inc, a weapons distributor in that country.he noted.

The Foreign Ministry expects the Supreme Court to decide next September whether it will review the case, so the district court set the next hearing for October 2 of this year.

Lack of jurisdiction

On August 7, Judge Dennis Saylor, assigned to that district court, dismissed much of the lawsuit in which Mexico asks the gun shops compensation of 10 billion dollarsarguing lack of jurisdiction to judge six companies: Barrett Firearms, Beretta USA, Century International Arms, Colt’s Manufacturing, Glock and Sturm, Ruger & Co.

“The judge considered – without analyzing further evidence – that they cannot be tried in that state. This decision does not absolve the six companies of responsibility for the damage caused to our country,” the SRE stressed.

He also accused the judge of being the same who, in September 2022, ruled that the defendants enjoyed immunity and could not be brought before a court. Mexico appealed and managed to reverse this decision in January 2024, becoming the first foreign government to overcome this immunity.

The defendant companies asked the Supreme Court of that country to review the decision, but to date, the case has not been admitted for study.the agency stressed.