"US arms companies under pressure from Mexico lawsuit", 18 Aug 2022

As a spate of gun violence, including the elementary school mass killing in Uvalde, Texas, continues to unfold in the United States, the Mexican government has not missed the opportunity to talk up the historic lawsuit it brought one year ago in the Massachusetts District Court against 10 US gun manufacturers and distributors.

The lawsuit, Mexico vs Smith & Wesson et al, seeks damages from the companies for negligence leading to Mexico’s shocking rate of gun homicides and other gun violence, which is largely attributable to guns sold in the US and trafficked over the border. The government estimates the damage to be approximately $10bn.

A substantial claim in Mexico’s complaint is that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which prevents US gun companies from being sued, does not apply in Mexico...

Smith & Wesson’s second-quarter report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission noted that, along with other litigation the company has faced and continues to face (including from victims of the 2019 California synagogue shooting), they intended to “aggressively” defend itself against Mexico lawsuits. “Litigation of this nature also is expensive, time-consuming, and diverts the time and attention of our management,” it added...

Further pressure is being placed on the companies through shareholder activism focused on the business risks of continuing gun violence.

Last month Ruger shareholders approved a proposal put forward by members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Accountability [who have become shareholders of the company in order to influence it on gun safety matters] to have the company undertake a Human Rights Impact Assessment...

Chief Judge F Dennis Saylor — an appointee of George W Bush, the US president who also signed the PLCAA into law — is expected to rule any day on the gun companies’ request to dismiss the case, and may well rule in favour of the companies.

Regardless of the outcome, Castellanos-Jankiewicz said the lawsuit’s high profile has already had an effect.

“Mexico’s pioneering litigation strategy can be replicated, and this opens new avenues for accountability.”...