Arms selling companies claimed immunity from SRE's lawsuit; the Mexican government replied

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) reported on Monday, March 14, that companies sued by this agency for their alleged negligent business practices that favor arms trafficking in Mexico submitted their response to the reply promoted by the Mexican State.

In this, companies engaged in the firearms trade individually questioned the ability of the Mexican government to sue in Massachusetts and the link between its negligent actions and the damage caused by its weapons on Mexican territory, something that the executive branch had already contemplated.

In addition, these firms insisted that the Law “Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms” (PLCAA) gives them immunity from the criminal acts mentioned, even if they are not carried out on US soil.

This is due to the fact that the legal representatives of Mexico argued in the response that the United States Congress, when legislating does so thinking that laws only have scope in their territory, and when their intention is that they apply beyond their country, they explicitly state it in the law. This means that the immunity to which the defendants appeal extends throughout the US, but when their actions go beyond any of their borders, they must comply with international law.

Consequently, the Mexican government maintains that the PLCAA does not offer any immunity to arms companies for damage caused by criminal acts committed with their weapons in Mexico.

It should be recalled that the Mexican State argued on January 31 before the Federal Court in Boston, Massachusetts, that its lawsuit must continue after the companies' attempt to stop the litigation. It should also be noted that, due to the strength of the Mexican argument and the support generated by its cause in the US and Europe, companies had requested more time to respond and an increase in the number of pages for their counter-reply, this because in the original calendar, the scheduled date was 28 February.

Marcelo Ebrard, head of SRE, explained that in order to stop violence in Mexico, one of the measures that must be taken is to stop arms trafficking in the republic, because the only institution authorized to trade and produce weapons is the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena).

This means, indirectly, that most of the weapons used by organized crime have arrived from abroad. Studies also show that most of the illegal weapons circulating in Mexico comes from the US, so it is of the utmost importance to the federal administration that arms trading companies stop selling to Mexican criminals.

For this reason, the SRE initiated legal proceedings against these companies for alleged negligent acts, with which they are expected to generate multiple results; however, such companies face resistance in US courts.

The Mexican government estimates that half a million guns lawfully cross the Rio Bravo every year (about 2.2 percent of total U.S. production) and are responsible for thousands of homicides annually.

With the demand, Mexican authorities are seeking companies to establish greater controls on the sale of their weapons and also ask for economic compensation for the cost of insecurity in Mexico, which would range from 2% to 6% of Mexico's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“It's not like they sell spoons. They are selling guns and should take a much greater level of care [...] Knowing that their weapons are causing so much death in Mexico, they should at least ask themselves 'what do we do? ' ”, questioned Alejandro Celorio, coordinator of the lawsuit against arms companies.

KEEP READING: