Massachusetts/Mexico – -(AmmoLand.com)- If there is one thing Second Amendment supporters have to remember, it’s that anti-Second Amendment extremists are willing to take any shot they can at our rights. The suit in a federal court in Massachusetts by Mexico against six firearms manufacturers and one wholesaler is one classic example of this.
Like big-city mayors a quarter-century ago, the Mexican government has been unable or unwilling to address serious criminal activity.
In one sense, Mexico has it much tougher than American cities: The drug cartels are a for-real insurgency of sorts. But rather than actually get serious about dealing with the cartels, who get weapons you don’t find at your local FFL, they’re blaming law-abiding Americans who wish to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
Now it is clear that some guns do get run from the United States to cartels, and not just from Operation Fast and Furious. As the Second Amendment Foundation reported, the Mexican government doesn’t trace all the guns they seize for the reasons stated above: The type of firepower Mexican authorities are facing isn’t legally available on the civilian market in the United States.
That being said, such trafficking violates various provisions of 18 USC 922 and can also trigger versions of 18 USC 924. If there is blame to be assessed in America for Mexico’s problem, not prosecuting those violations is a place to look.
But the involvement of the Brady Campaign in this suit is a dead giveaway to the real objective of this suit. This is about targeting six gun manufacturers: Glock, Ruger, Smith and Wesson, Century Arms, Beretta, and Colt. All sell popular firearms to the public, and each newly manufactured gun is sold to a member of the public in accordance with federal, state, and local firearms laws through an FFL.
What the Brady Campaign wants is what they wanted two decades ago when cities were suing gun manufacturers: They want to either drive the manufacturers into bankruptcy, or they want them to accept terms that have been rejected by the bulk of state legislatures (not to mention Congress), often due to the grassroots efforts of Second Amendment supporters and groups like the NRA and GOA.
It goes without saying that this lawsuit needs to be thrown out with prejudice. But that won’t be enough. Congress will need to strengthen the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, to include sanctions against this type of suit. Second Amendment supporters should contact their Representative and Senators to urge that, but they also need to contact the Mexican government to register their objection to this suit – if common sense can’t get Mexico to back off, maybe the threat of losing tourism will.
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