Supreme Court blocks lawsuit against gun manufacturers filed by Mexican government over cartel gun violence

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday in favor of U.S. gun manufacturers and blocked a liability lawsuit brought by the government of Mexico, which sought to hold the companies accountable for the trafficking of their weapons south of the border to fuel violence by the cartels.

The government argued in its historic lawsuit that American firearms manufacturers including Smith & Wesson, Glock, Beretta and Colt, were “aiding and abetting” the illicit flow of weapons across the border.

Mexico sought $10 billion in damages, court-mandated safety mechanisms and sales restrictions for U.S.-made guns.

The high court had not taken up the issue of the sweeping gunmaker immunity found in a 2005 federal law aimed at protecting the industry.

In her opinion, Justice Elena Kagan ruled that the Mexican government’s complaint “sets a high bar.”

“The complaint does not pinpoint, as most aiding-and-abetting claims do, any specific criminal transactions that the defendants (allegedly) assisted. It does not say, for example, that a given manufacturer aided a given firearms dealer, at a particular time and place, in selling guns to a given Mexican trafficker not legally permitted to buy them under a specified statute,” she wrote.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.