Mexico sues US gun companies, accusing them of fueling violence



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And it will be difficult to show that the companies that put Mexican icons on their guns were trying to bring in cartel hitmen, experts said.

“It is perfectly legal to have Mexican revolutionary heroes on your weapon,” said Eugene Volokh, professor of law at UCLA. “There is no law that prohibits this.

In Washington, the White House noted that President Biden had urged Congress to repeal federal law that protects gunmakers from prosecution. “President Biden remains committed to the repeal of Congress,” said Michael Gwin, White House spokesman. “As long as this law remains in force, manufacturers and distributors of firearms should be held accountable – to the extent that the law permits – when they violate the law.”

U.S. gun laws have clear links to the ebb and flow of violence in Mexico, experts say. When the US ban on assault weapons ended in 2004, the government noted in the lawsuit that gunmakers “exploited the opening to dramatically increase production, particularly of assault-style weapons. military favored by drug cartels “.

Soon after, murders in Mexico began to escalate, reaching record levels in 2018, when more than 36,000 people were murdered across the country.

The Mexican government is represented by lawyers from Hilliard Shadowen, a Texas law firm specializing in class actions, and by Jonathan Lowy, chief counsel for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the gun control organization.

The complaint was filed the day after Mr. Ebrard, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, attended a ceremony commemorating the second anniversary of the mass shooting at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, which killed 23 people. , including several Mexican citizens.

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