Attorney General Bonta Files Brief in Support of Mexico’s Efforts to Hold Gun Manufacturers Accountable and Protect Our Communities

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a coalition of 17 state attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court, supporting the Mexican government’s lawsuit against gun manufacturers to hold them accountable for their contributions to gun violence in Mexico. The brief was filed in the case Estados Unidos Mexicanos v. Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. and urges the Court to uphold the First Circuit’s ruling that the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) does not shield firearm manufacturers and distributors from Mexico’s lawsuit. 

“It is our duty to ensure that companies are held accountable when they violate the law — manufacturers and distributors of firearms who threaten the safety of our communities are no exception,” said Attorney General Bonta. “PLCAA does not give gun manufacturers and distributors a free pass to create and distribute weapons they know are being trafficked and used to terrorize communities, in both Mexico and the United States.”

In Mexico, legally purchasing a firearm is nearly impossible. The country has one gun store and issues fewer than 50 gun permits per year. Despite this, an estimated 200,000 firearms are trafficked into Mexico from the United States every year. According to a 2020 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives estimates that 70% of the firearms recovered in Mexico from 2014 through 2018 originated in the United States. PLCAA allows gun manufacturers and sellers to be held liable for their own misconduct when they knowingly violate the law. In 2022, the Mexican government filed a lawsuit against eight gun manufacturers and a distributor alleging the companies have been fully aware that their firearms are being illegally trafficked into the country. Mexico further alleges that the companies knowingly violated laws applicable to the sale or marketing of firearms, and that these violations were the proximate cause of harm to Mexico and its citizens. 

In November 2022, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts dismissed Mexico’s lawsuit Mexico appealed to the First Circuit, which reversed the district court’s dismissal and reinstated Mexico’s suit, holding that Mexico’s allegations satisfied the “predicate exception” to PLCAA. The First Circuit held that Mexico had plausibly alleged that the defendants aided and abetted the unlawful sale of firearms to purchasers who supplied Mexico’s drug cartels, and that those unlawful actions were a proximate cause of Mexico’s alleged harms. In October 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. 

In today’s brief, the attorneys general urge the Supreme Court to uphold the First Circuit’s ruling, as PLCAA should not be interpreted to shield the firearms industry from accountability for their role in fueling the rampant gun violence in Mexico. The attorneys general argue that:

• Under PLCAA, States have authority to create remedies for conduct that causes harm to their residents;
• Congress did not intend to preclude actions against members of the firearm industry for their own misconduct; and
• Gun manufacturers’ assertion that manufacturers or distributors cannot be a proximate cause of a firearm’s independent criminal misuse under PLCAA is incorrect, under basic principles of tort law and as a matter of statutory interpretation.

Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont in filing the brief. 

A copy of the brief is available here.