A US appeals court has ruled that a $10bn lawsuit filed by Mexico against US gun manufacturers can go ahead, reviving a long-running legal battle.

Mexico's government argues that the "flood" of illegal guns across the border is a result of "deliberate" business practices by the US gunmakers.

A lower court had dismissed the case in late 2022, prompting an appeal from the Mexican government.

The gun industry's trade association has denied any wrongdoing.

Among the companies named in the lawsuit are Smith & Wesson, Glock, Beretta, Barrett, Sturm and Ruger.

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The lawsuit, which was first filed in 2021 in a federal courthouse in Massachusetts - where several of the companies are based - argued that the manufacturers knew that guns were being sold to traffickers fuelling violence in the country.

But in 2022 a US federal judge dismissed the case on the grounds that the gun manufacturers were protected by a 2005 law known as the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. The law, also known as the PLCAA, shields gunmakers from damages "resulting from the criminal or unlawful misuse" of their products.

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Mexico's government swiftly appealed, arguing that the law only applies to injuries that take place in the US and does not protect the defendants - which include seven manufacturers and one distributor - from liability.

On Monday, a US appeals court ruled that the Mexican lawsuit "plausibly alleges a type of claim that is statutorily exempt" from the PCLAA, which only covers lawful gun sales.

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