Smith & Wesson Gets Supreme Court Review on Mexico Gun Suit

The U.S. Supreme Court will consider tossing out a Mexican government lawsuit accusing Smith & Wesson Brands Inc. and other gunmakers of facilitating firearm sales to people connected to the country’s violent drug cartels.

In a case that could bolster the industry’s protections from lawsuits, the justices said they will hear company arguments that the suit Mexico filed in Massachusetts is barred under a 2005 law that provides a broad liability shield for gunmakers.

The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act doesn’t shield the companies, pointing to Mexico’s allegations that the gunmakers intentionally trade with suppliers for the cartels. The measure allows suits against gunmakers who knowingly violate firearms laws in a way that causes injury.

Smith & Wesson and other companies told the Supreme Court that the 1st Circuit decision “exposes a wide swath of industry to liability for doing nothing more than making available legal and nondefective products that can be criminally misused downstream.”

The lawsuit originally named eight companies as defendants, but the trial judge recently said six gunmakers lack enough of a connection to Massachusetts for the case to go forward against them there. Although Mexico can appeal that ruling, it means for now that Smith & Wesson and wholesaler Witmer Public Safety Group Inc. are the only remaining defendants.

Mexico urged the Supreme Court not to hear the case, saying the lawsuit alleges the companies “deliberately chose to engage in unlawful affirmative conduct to profit off the criminal market for their products.”

The case, which the court will resolve by July, is Smith & Wesson Brands v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, 23-1141.

Top photo: Fairgoers look at guns on display at the Smith & Wesson stand at the Latin American Aerospace & Defense (LAAD) conference and exhibition in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Thursday, April 13, 2023. The expo brings together manufacturers and suppliers of technology for the armed forces, police, special forces, as well as executives of the private defense industry and government agencies. Photographer: Maria Magdalena Arrellaga/Bloomberg.