By; Staff Writer
March 24, 2023
Four Caribbean countries join forces with Mexico in a $10bn lawsuit against US gun manufacturers.
Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago joined suit with Mexico in their $10bn civil lawsuit against US gun manufacturers.
A U.S. judge in September dismissed the first court attempt at this lawsuit by Mexico seeking to hold U.S. gun makers responsible for facilitating the trafficking of deadly weapons across the border, but Mexico filed an appeal in a civil lawsuit against those manufacturers as they look to crack down on the trafficking of weapons to powerful drug cartels.
The amicus curiae brief (friend of the court) joined by the Caribbean countries state: “Unlawful trafficking of American firearms must be curtailed at its source: the US gun industry. The gun manufacturers and distributers from a single nation must not be permitted to hold hostage the law-abiding citizens of an entire region of the world,” and notes that the governments of the participating countries “have a solemn duty to protect the lives, health, and security of their citizens.”
The brief added that the United Nations has shown that “firearms are key enablers of high homicide levels,” and notes that despite comprising less than 1% of the world’s population, the Caribbean records 23 percent of all homicides.
The brief argues that US gun industry practices, including the bulk sales of guns to dealers who are known to engage in practices correlated with illegal weapons smuggling, have caused significant harm to the countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region.
“A favourable decision in the court of appeals will allow the government to prove its case on the merits – that the gun manufacturers’ marketing and distribution practices amount to actively facilitating the trafficking of their guns into Mexico,” the government said in a statement.
“There is a correlation between the negligent practices of companies and the arms trafficking that leads to violence in Mexico, as well as other crimes such as human trafficking and drug trafficking, particularly of fentanyl,” it added.
The issue of gun violence in Mexico has drawn new scrutiny on both sides of the border in recent days following the cartel-linked kidnapping of four Americans in the northern state of Tamaulipas, during which two of them and a Mexican bystander were killed.
The Mexican government’s appeal is targeting Smith and Wesson Brands Inc (SWBI.O) and Sturm, Ruger and Co (RGR.N), as well as Barrett Firearms Manufacturing Inc, Beretta USA Corp, Colt’s Manufacturing Co, Century International Arms Inc, Witmer Public Safety Group Inc and pistol-maker Glock Inc.
The Caribbean, as with Mexico, is sweltering under the pressure of a rise in gun related crimes and subsequent deaths related to the illegal narcotics trade.