BELLEVUE, WA – Thursday morning’s unanimous decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to toss the Mexican government’s lawsuit against U.S. gun makers was the correct outcome of a case which was “nonsense in the first place,” the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said.
“This lawsuit,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “was yet another attempt, this time by a foreign government, to financially drain American firearms manufacturers. It collided with the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which the CCRKBA was instrumental in helping get passed in 2005, during the second Bush administration. Congress wisely adopted the PLCAA to prevent this kind of junk legal action.
“We are delighted the high court’s decision to reverse and remand the appeals court ruling was unanimous, and especially that it was authored by Justice Elena Kagan,” he continued. “After the trial court judge ruled for the manufacturers, the lawsuit should have died, but the Boston-based First Circuit Court of Appeals decided to revive the case, which should tell us all a great deal about that circuit. Thankfully, the Supreme Court recognized this lawsuit was nonsense in the first place, and that the appellate court’s decision needed to be reversed.”
Writing for the Court, Justice Kagan noted, “Recall that Congress enacted the statute to halt a flurry of lawsuits attempting to make gun manufacturers pay for the downstream harms resulting from misuse of their products. In a ‘findings’ and ‘purposes’ section, Congress explained that PLCAA was meant to stop those suits—to prevent manufacturers (and sellers) from being held ‘liable for the harm caused by those who criminally or unlawfully misuse firearm[s].’ Mexico’s suit closely resembles the ones Congress had in mind: It seeks to recover from American firearms manufacturers for the downstream damage Mexican cartel members wreak with their guns.”
Gottlieb said the Supreme Court decision “amounts to a significant and severe setback for the gun prohibition lobby, which we all know was supporting and rooting for Mexico.”
“We know the gun ban bunch has been trying for years to stop gun sales and erase the Second Amendment,” Gottlieb observed, “either through passage of extremist gun control laws or by bankrupting the firearms industry. Once again, people who would blame gun makers and law-abiding American citizens for crimes they did not commit have failed. However, the greater failure here is in the Mexican government’s inability to bring their own criminals to justice. Before attacking our house, Mexico needs to get its own house in order.”