The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in the frivolous case brought by the Mexican government against Smith & Wesson. On Friday, the high court granted cert in the legal proceeding, which initially targeted several other American manufacturers.
In August, a federal judge dismissed multiple companies from the suit, including Glock, Barrett Firearms, Ruger and Company, Sturm, Colt’s Manufacturing, Beretta, and Century International Arms.
This left only Smith & Wesson and wholesaler Whitmer Public Safety Group to defend themselves against a foreign government in U.S. courts.
Mexican officials make the contentious claim that American weapons manufacturers bear responsibility for the nation’s well-documented struggle with violent drug cartels. Plaintiffs attempt to link the sale of popular sporting rifles to the U.S. public to murders and mayhem south of the border.
However, Smith & Wesson officials defend themselves with the Second Amendment and convincing arguments that Mexico is attempting to deflect blame for its internal crisis.
Attorney Noel Francisco wrote that the continuation of such massive legal action threatens companies supported by the Constitution. “Leading members of the American firearms industry are facing years of litigation costs and the specter of business-crushing liability.”
In its filing, the company declared that the Mexican government is fundamentally opposed to constitutional rights granted to upstanding Americans.
“Simply put, Mexico detests the American system that makes firearms readily available to law-abiding citizens in accordance with the Second Amendment.” This filing further notes that Mexican officials do not cloak their view “that ordinary citizens should not be allowed to buy an AR-15 or a firearm capable of holding over ten rounds. And it finds abhorrent how law-abiding Americans have the liberty to obtain such firearms without having to beg for the government’s grace.”
What is the worst-case scenario for the venerable manufacturer?
When Remington was viciously targeted with litigation after the Sandy Hook tragedy, the Supreme Court declined to intervene. Now, after multiple bankruptcies and the selling off of assets, the historic company is only a shell of its former self.
Remember, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) protects the weapons industry from frivolous lawsuits that seek to destroy it.
This federal statute was enacted almost two decades ago in the face of several municipalities rushing to bring firearms manufacturers to their knees through a deluge of taxpayer-funded litigation.
A district judge initially determined that PLCAA’s protections erased the Mexican government’s claims in the $10 billion lawsuit. That should have been the end of it, but the First Circuit Court of Appeals inexplicably reversed this decision and allowed the suit against Smith & Wesson to continue.
Despite the loud complaints of anti-gun forces, PLCAA is hardly a blanket shield against any and all legal action targeting the weapons industry. There are carveouts that allow legal redress if companies commit certain misdeeds, and the appeals court used this to permit the proceedings to continue.
On this basis, Judge William J. Kayatta wrote that the appeals court would allow the action to continue. He expressed the belief of the three-judge panel that it is possible that Smith & Wesson works “to maintain the unlawful market in Mexico.”
The company and other Second Amendment defenders assert that allowing the lawsuit to continue in U.S. courts will cast a pall over the industry that could last years. They believe it is nothing more than a brazen attempt by a foreign power to dictate gun control to U.S. citizens that has repeatedly been rejected by the voters.
The Supreme Court opened its new nine-month term on Monday, and a decision in this case could come down by July.
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