Mexico adds support in the US in lawsuit against arms manufacturers

David Brooks

Correspondent

Newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday, February 1, 2022, p. 3

New York., The Mexican government rejected the arguments of eight US gunsmiths and asked the judge of a federal court in Massachusetts to keep the civil lawsuit against the accused for their negligence in the manufacture and sale of weapons that fuel the violence of the cartels. in Mexico and, at the same time, fourteen attorneys general from various states, dozens of district attorneys from all over the country and several of the main American civil organizations dedicated to the prevention of gun violence joined the legal case in support of Mexico .

In Mexico’s formal response filed yesterday with the United States District Court in Massachusetts, in response to the defendant gunsmiths who asked the judge to dismiss the case in November, it is stated that the defendants’ petition to dismiss this complaint seeks impunity for this conduct from designing and manufacturing weapons of war, and marketing them in a way they know routinely arms drug cartels in Mexico. Emphasize that this behavior causes devastating damage to the government of Mexico and its citizens.

Responding to defendants’ argument that this case represents a clash between national valuesin which Mexico wishes to impose its own on the United States, the Mexican government argues that this demand reflects coordination of, and mutual respect for, the sovereign rights, values, and responsibilities of each within their jurisdictions.

Mexico argues that the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, which gunsmiths and their advocates always insist protects the right to arms, it does not confer a right on defendants to negligently sell, trade, or design weapons, especially assault weapons, and facilitate their trafficking out of the United States. And it does not confer on any person, inside or outside the United States, a right to engage with defendants in such conduct..

The Mexican government, in the document of 46 pages, responds point by point to the arguments presented in writing by the US gunsmiths requesting the annulment of the civil lawsuit, concluding very briefly: for the reasons stated herein, the court must deny in its entirety the defendants’ joint request to dismiss the case.

At the same time, six of the main US gun violence prevention organizations asked the court for permission to join the case in favor of the lawsuit brought by Mexico and present their arguments in writing against those of the gunsmiths accused in this lawsuit. This would be as court friends (amicus curiae), an accepted way for others who are not parties to the dispute before the court to present their advice and opinions in the public interest.

They argue that while the defendants seek to characterize this case as a clash of national values with Mexico, threatening American constitutional freedomsomit our shared values: respect for human life and living free from gun violence.

These organizations include Everytown for Gun Safety (the nation’s largest organization with more than 8 million members), the Violence Policy Center, the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the Newtown Action Alliance (which sprang up after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012), Global Exchange, and the relatively new March for Our Lives Action Fund, which grew out of the Parkland, Florida, high school shooting and spawned a new youth movement for tougher controls on weapons.

At the same time, attorneys from 13 states and the capital, Washington DC, requested authorization as court friends to support Mexico’s position against the gunsmiths’ arguments to dismiss the case. The attorneys general are from the states of California, New York, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, and Minnesotta.

At the local level, dozens of municipal and county prosecutors from across the country – including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, Seattle, among others – also filed a collective argument in support of Mexico’s position to keep the lawsuit in force. against the gunsmiths.

On the other hand, Antigua and Barbuda and Belize, and the Human Security NGO network in Latin America and the Caribbean, also registered a document in support of Mexico’s claim, also as court friends. They state that although Mexico is the only plaintiff in this case, defendants’ businesses have also harmed, and continue to harm, many other nations. They argue that single-nation arms manufacturers and distributors should not be allowed to take hostage the law-abiding citizens of an entire region of the world.” They add that an adequate remedy for this situation would not only benefit Mexico, but would save many lives throughout the region.

At the same time, the Scholars of International Law organization also supported Mexico’s position in this case.

Now the court will proceed to establish a term until February 28 to accept the response of the eight gunsmiths to this reply from Mexico. From that – if there are no other requests filed with the court – the federal judge in charge of the case, F. Dennis Saylor, will issue a ruling on whether to accept Mexico’s argument to proceed with the trial.

Mexico filed its civil lawsuit against arms manufacturers and a distributor in the United States on August 4 in the US District Court in Massachusetts. Mexico argues that the manufacturers deliberately facilitate the sale of firearms that finally reach the hands of organized crime on the other side of the border and with the demand they are seeking both economic reparations for the damage and commitments from these companies to stop the illicit flow of firearms. weapons by assuming greater responsibility for the sale and commercial promotion of their products that fuel violence across the border.