A large majority of the guns recovered after crimes are committed in Mexico are produced by gun manufacturers in the United States. In recent years, demand by the Mexican drug cartels has fueled high levels of north-to-south traffic in armaments, primarily military-style assault weapons. This has, in turn, led to an increase in the flow of fentanyl and other narcotics from south to north and driven more and more migrants to seek safety from violence in the US.

A lawsuit filed by the Mexican government in 2021 aims to address this problem by holding six major US arms companies accountable for the violence that their products have caused and, ultimately, to reduce the number of guns flowing into Mexico from the US. Filed in the state of Massachusetts in August 2021, Estados Unidos Mexicanos v. Smith & Wesson, et. al. seeks to collect $10 billion in damages from Smith & Wesson, as well as Beretta, Century Arms, Colt, Glock, and Ruger — the companies responsible for a majority of the firearms recovered in Mexico. The plaintiff in the suit (i.e. the government of Mexico) alleges that the design of these products, which allows them to be easily converted into military-style assault weapons, as well as the way they are distributed and marketed, which funnel guns into the hands of unregulated sellers and ultimately to the drug cartels, leads to criminality, violence, and death in Mexico and that US gun manufacturers have acted knowingly and intentionally to perpetuate this situation.

The case was dismissed by the Massachusetts court in October 2021 on questions of standing and on the claim that the suit was prohibited by the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA). Mexico has subsequently filled a new lawsuit against a brick-and-mortar store in Arizona, Estados Unidos Mexicanos v. Diamondback Shooting Sports, Inc., et.al., and requested an advisory opinion from the Inter American Commission on Human Rights. The original suit was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Arguments were heard in late July of 2023 and the decision is still pending.

For further reading on the broader issues of the US arms trade to Mexico and Latin America see Stop US Arms to Mexico, which Women on the Border has added to our list of Resources for Activists.