A federal judge has issued a ruling against Mexico in a lawsuit by their government against top United States gun manufacturers.
The lawsuit was dismissed by a judge in Boston in a case that saw the Mexican government target gun manufacturers for gun violence that occurs in the country, The Daily Caller reports.
The report indicates that Federal Judge F. Dennis Saylor ruled that the manufacturers were protected by a 2005 law called the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) which protects gunsmiths from being punish for the “criminal or unlawful misuse” of the gun they produce.
Judge Saylor wrote, “While the court has considerable sympathy for the people of Mexico, and none whatsoever for those who traffic guns to Mexican criminal organizations, it is duty-bound to follow the law.”
The Mexican government claimed in the suit that 70% of the firearms in the country come from the United States.
Mexico has argued that the law protects gun manufacturers for crimes inside of the United States but not outside of it to which Judge Saylor disagreed.
He wrote, “Mexico is seeking to hold defendants liable for practices that occurred within the United States and only resulted in harm in Mexico… This case thus represents a valid domestic application of the PLCAA, and the presumption against extraterritoriality does not apply.”
Gun laws are strict in Mexico but cartels circumvent that with the smuggling of illegal firearms into the country.
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