by Jennie Taer
The Mexican government is suing five U.S. gun manufacturers for alleged arms trafficking following a judge’s dismissal of a similar case, according to Reuters, which obtained a copy of the lawsuit.
The lawsuit centers around “straw” sales of guns by customers purchasing on someone else’s behalf, Mexican government legal advisor Alejandro Celorio told Reuters. The Mexican government recently said that 500,000 guns are moved across the border from the U.S. to Mexico per year.
“There is traceability information that shows that weapons that have been found in criminal scenes in Mexico were sold by those corporations we’re suing today,” Celorio said, according to Reuters.
“Each defendant knowingly participates in trafficking guns into Mexico,” the lawsuit stated, according to Reuters.
The lawsuit accused the Arizona-based gun dealers of violating RICO, a U.S. anti-racketeering law “designed to address the infiltration of legitimate enterprises by organized crime and other illegal ventures,” Reuters reported.
In September, a federal judge dismissed a similar $10 billion lawsuit against U.S. gun manufacturers alleging a connection with cartel violence, ruling that the companies were under the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) passed in 2005.
Several of the accused gun companies didn’t respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
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Jennie Taer is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Alejandro Celorio Alcántara” by Mexican Foreign Service. Background Photo “Courtroom” by Clyde Robinson. CC BY 2.0.
