In a unanimous decision released Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out the Mexican government’s lawsuit against U.S. firearms manufacturers, reversing a lower appeals court and remanding the case back for further action.
The 15-page decision, authored by Justice Elena Kagan, notes that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act—signed into law by former President George W. Bush 20 years ago—was adopted “to halt a flurry of lawsuits attempting to make gun manufacturers pay for the downstream harms resulting from misuse of their products.”
The National Shooting Sports Foundation is hailing the ruling. NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Larry Keane called it “a tremendous victory.”
“For too long,” Keane said, “gun control activists have attempted to twist basic tort law to malign the highly-regulated U.S. firearm industry with the criminal actions of violent organized crime, both here in the United States and abroad. The firearm industry is sympathetic to plight of those in Mexico who are victims of rampant and uncontrolled violence at the hands of narco-terrorist drug cartels. The firearm industry works closely with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to prevent the illegal straw purchasing of firearms and the illegal transnational smuggling of firearms. This unequivocal decision by the Supreme Court that PLCAA applies and there is no evidence whatsoever that U.S. manufacturers are in any way responsible is verification of commitment to responsible firearm ownership.”
Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), described the lawsuit as “yet another attempt, this time by a foreign government, to financially drain American firearms manufacturers.”
The CCRKBA was instrumental in pressuring Congress to adopt PLCAA in 2005, Gottlieb recalled.
“We know the gun ban bunch has been trying for years to stop gun sales and erase the Second Amendment,” Gottlieb observed, “either through passage of extremist gun control legislation or by bankrupting the firearms industry. Once again, people who would blame firearms manufacturers and law-abiding American citizens for crimes they did not commit, have failed. However, the greater failure here is in the Mexican government’s inability to bring their own criminals to justice. Before attacking our house, Mexico needs to get their own house in order.”
Smith & Wesson President and CEO Mark Smith issued a statement following the decision: “Today’s unanimous Supreme Court decision shutting down this ridiculous lawsuit against our company represents not only a big win for Smith & Wesson, but our industry, American sovereignty and, most importantly, every American who wishes to exercise his or her Second Amendment rights. This suit, brought by Mexico in collaboration with U.S.-based anti-Second Amendment activist groups, was an afront to our nation’s sovereignty and a direct attack on the Constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans. It is also only the latest example of their strategy of attacking our company and our industry by bringing one frivolous lawsuit after another, in a blatant abuse of our legal system to advance their anti-Constitutional agenda. Although the Supreme Court reached the correct decision, it’s frankly a shame that it was allowed to continue in the first place, as the District Court appropriately dismissed the case in 2022, and it was then reactivated on appeal. To all American patriots – you can rest assured that Smith & Wesson will always stand and fight for your Constitutional rights at every turn.”
Adam Kraut, executive director of the Second Amendment Foundation, and a practicing attorney, put it bluntly: “The ultimate goal of this lawsuit was simple – bankrupt the firearms industry, at the ultimate peril of the American people. Thankfully, the Supreme Court saw through this thinly veiled attempt to wield the legal system as a cudgel against lawful commerce.”
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2021, not long after Joe Biden took office. According to NBC News, the original complaint accused Smith & Wesson, Colt and other companies “of deliberately selling guns to dealers who sell products that are frequently recovered at Mexican crime scenes.” Ultimately, S&W and Interstate Arms were the defendants after Colt, Glock and others succeeded in their efforts to be dismissed from the case.
Thursday’s high court decision amounts to a slap in the face to the gun prohibition lobby, which supported Mexico. As noted by CBS News, attorney Jonathan Lowy, Founder & President, Global Action on Gun Violence and Special Litigation Advisor to Everytown Law, had been asked by Mexico “to help devise its strategy to cut off the gun pipeline.” Lowy has been fighting the firearms industry for 25 years.
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, who led an amicus brief in support of the industry, issued a statement calling it “a win for gun manufacturers and gun owners across the country.
“The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act makes it clear,” Knudsen said. “American firearms manufacturers should not and do not have to answer for the actions of criminals. Today, the Supreme Court unanimously agreed. Mexico’s dangerous gun policies are to blame for their own gun violence crisis, not American gun manufacturers following the law.”
