By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services
Key Points:
- Mexico cites specific illegal gun sales in Arizona
- Supreme Court ruling targeted manufacturers, not dealers
- Case alleges dealers knowingly sold to traffickers
Mexico is not dropping its lawsuit against five Arizona gun dealers despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling tossing a similar case against gun manufacturers.
Steve Shadowen, who represents Mexico, told Capitol Media Services that the facts in that country’s claim against Smith & Wesson and others are sufficiently different from those in the lawsuit filed here in 2022.
On one hand, he said Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the unanimous court, acknowledge that there are “unlawful sales of firearms to Mexican traffickers.” But Shadowen said Kagan concluded that the manufacturers are too far removed from the actual gun dealers that sell to the cartels to make them legally liable.