Attorney General Raúl Labrador has joined a coalition of 27 states in defending American firearms manufacturers against attempts to hold the companies liable for gun violence in Mexico. The coalition's petition requests the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) to overturn a lower court’s ruling in Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc., et.al., v. Mexico, which they argue could threaten Americans' Second Amendment rights.
“This case is a part of the continued attack on the American firearms industry,” said Attorney General Labrador. “I will never sit back and let a foreign nation dictate the freedoms of American citizens, especially when Mexico’s own hypocritical inaction about immigration, drug cartels, and the border has created such damage here on U.S. soil.”
The Mexican government argues that firearms manufacturers should be held liable for gun violence occurring south of the border because some of their products are unlawfully trafficked into Mexico. Congress enacted the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) in 2005 to balance Americans’ Second Amendment rights with efforts to keep guns away from criminals while protecting firearms companies from being held liable for crimes committed with their products.
Initially dismissed by a federal judge in Massachusetts in 2022, Mexico’s case was later revived by an appeal where the First Circuit ruled that Mexico's claims fall within an exception to PLCAA. This exception allows suits alleging knowing violations of firearms laws that proximately cause a plaintiff’s injuries. The attorneys general contend that this interpretation relies on an expansive view of proximate causation that undermines PLCAA.
The coalition argues that Congress—not the judiciary—should regulate the firearms industry and enforce PLCAA while clearly defining its exceptions. They also assert that Mexico's sovereign power weakens any claim of proximate causation.
“Mexico could simply close—indeed, militarize—its border with the United States if it chose to do so,” reads their brief. “Doubtless the closure would be painful, and Mexico has chosen to do otherwise. Indeed, Mexico has flung its border open and sought to extort billions of dollars from the United States to even attempt to manage the resulting chaos. Mexico should not be permitted to exert de facto control over the rights of American citizens to alleviate the consequences of its own policy choices.”
Attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire North Dakota Oklahoma South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Virginia West Virginia Wyoming along with Arizona Legislature joined brief led Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen