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Mexico has sued in Massachusetts court for the involvement of the U.S. firearms industry in the illegal arms trafficking in the country.
The lawsuit says that "defendants assumed a duty to ensure their weapons are lawfully and carefully sold, in their entirety, within applicable laws, and not to circumvent those laws through their business practices by designing, distributing, selling and marketing highly dangerous products."
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The Mexican government has accused U.S. firearms manufacturers through the lawsuit of vicariously facilitating organized crime in its national territory, noting that at least eight U.S. companies are aware that their weapons are illegally entering Mexico yet do nothing to counteract it.
According to the country's government, gun manufacturers must ensure that their products are not recklessly or illegally distributed in the Mexican criminal market.
Legal advisor to the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs Alejandro Celorio said in an interview with local daily El Universal that Mexico has suffered serious direct or indirect damages due to the negligence of the gun companies.
���� Homicide levels declining. They’ll decline further when US arms trafficking/drug use decrease too. @ZFTWARNING @smallwars @natejudejones @NathanielParish @VFelbabBrown @GCorreaCabrera @letichelius @marybsheridan @shannonkoneil @ioangrillo @USMEXUCSD @Cartajuanero @creechan https://t.co/Nr5vqy5vsq
— Patricia Escamilla M-H (@phhamm33) April 26, 2022
"We are suing the companies that represent around 62 percent of the weapons that have been found in Mexico of illicit origin", Celorio said, adding that between 70 percent and 90 percent of the arms in Mexico come from the U.S.
Illegal gun sales from U.S. manufacturers and distributors are estimated to have been one of the causes of at least 17 000 murders in Mexico during 2019, with 70 to 90 percent of the confiscated weapons entering from the U.S.
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