Mexico Sues Gun Manufacturers for its Gun Violence
Mexico sued U.S. gun manufacturers last week
Plaintiff Estados Unidos Mexicanos (the “Government”), a sovereign nation, brings this action to put an end to the massive damage that the Defendants cause by actively facilitating the unlawful trafficking of their guns to drug cartels and other criminals in Mexico. Almost all guns recovered at crime scenes in Mexico—70% to 90% of them—were trafficked from the U.S. The Defendants include the six U.S.-based manufacturers whose guns are most often recovered in Mexico—Smith & Wesson, Beretta, Century Arms, Colt, Glock, and Ruger. Another manufacturer defendant is Barrett, whose .50 caliber sniper rifle is a weapon of war prized by the drug cartels. The remaining defendant—Interstate Arms—is a Boston-area wholesaler through which all but one of the defendant manufacturers sell their guns for re-sale to gun dealers throughout the U.S.
- For decades the Government and its citizens have been victimized by a deadly flood of military-style and other particularly lethal guns that flows from the U.S. across the border, into criminal hands in Mexico. This flood is not a natural phenomenon or an inevitable consequence of the gun business or of U.S. gun laws. It is the foreseeable result of the Defendants’ deliberate actions and business practices.
Let’s look at some facts from U.S. law enforcement, which flips culpability on out of control Mexican lawless gang members infiltrating across the borders. .
Mexican gangs spill over from Mexico, operate in major U.S. cities with their major money maker drugs and human trafficking as well as guns. Mexican Prison gangs recruit while incarcerated the deported to Mexico inmates who after they are released.
Mexican Mafia wielded the power in the underworld behind bars, Seattle Times reports.
The organization made up of leaders from various Latino gangs operated like an illegal government, collecting “taxes” on smuggled drugs, ordering hits on people who didn’t follow their rules and even calling the shots on street crimes, federal prosecutors said.
This prison recruiting creates a new member in Mexico who can get drugs to be smuggled into U.S., FBI Special agent Davis said, with El Paso Times reporting. Without guns, the street gangs cannot protect their territories.
Many gang members continue to engage in gang activity while incarcerated, FBI reports.
A gang member’s incarceration often prompts his or her family to move closer to the correctional facility where the gang member is being housed. In some cases, family members assist or facilitate gang criminal activity and recruiting.
Family members of gangs operate as outside facilitators, serving as messengers, drug couriers, or in any capacity benefiting the gang. Outside facilitators are provided instructions by the incarcerated gang member, often during a social or legal visit, and in turn pass this information to gang members on the streets. Family members have also been used to assist prison escapes and smuggle contraband into correctional facilities, allowing incarcerated gang members to continue their operations inside prison.
In May this year, Eleven federal indictments unsealed in San Diego today charge twenty-three documented gang members and associates with heroin, methamphetamine and firearms trafficking, DOJ reported.
Many of the defendants are documented members or associates of violent South Bay street gangs operating out of National City, San Ysidro, and elsewhere. Many of these gang have long-standing ties to the Mexican Mafia. In total, authorities seized 2.1 kilograms of methamphetamine, 160 grams of heroin, and nine firearms tied to these defendants during the investigation.
“Gangs, drugs, and illegal firearms are infesting many of our neighborhoods and creating a violent culture that is unsafe for residents,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Randy S. Grossman.
Mexico is the conduit for gangs such as MS-13 (8,000 to 10,000 of these members are thought to be located within the United States) which include Salvadoran and related Central American concentrations. Also Mexican and related Hispanic with some Caucasian affiliates join according to FBI
The illicit economic include burglaries and robberies, prostitution, human smuggling, car theft operations (exporting into Mexico and Latin America), and narcotics sales. Mercenary type operations may also be engaged in. Guns are involved in all of the criminal activities.
As early as 2011, government figures put Latino gang members as the highest percentage, Many with ties to Mexico. With the Woky law enforcement by 2021, such statistics are racists. Mexico fully exploits the law enforcement and anti gun political trend in its legal claims against gun manufacturers whose policies are blamed, with disregard of Mexican gang complicity.
- 2011. The most recent figures provided by law enforcement are 46 percent Hispanic/Latino gang members, 35 percent African-American/black gang members, more than 11 percent white gang members, and 7 percent other race/ethnicity of gang members.
2011, that same year of the statistics above, NRA/ILA pointed out that Mexico has been on the war path against gun manufacturers for a decade
Mexico City newspaper La Jornada, addresses a frequently heard claim about the origin of guns used in Mexico’s crime wave. The cable’s author writes, “Claims by Mexican and U.S. officials that upwards of 90 percent of illegal recovered weapons can be traced back to the U.S. is based on an incomplete survey of confiscated weapons. In point of fact, without wider access to the weapons seized in Mexico, we really have no way of verifying these numbers.”
The same journal reported 90 percent of the drug cartels’ “heavy armament,” such as grenades and rocket launchers, originates in Central America and enters Mexico through its Southern border with Guatemala. Bolstering these claims, IHS Global Insights reported on April 6, 2011, that the head of U.S. Southern Command, General Douglas Fraser, testified before the Senate that over 50 percent of the military grade weapons in the region originated from Central America.
Read the latest lawsuit HERE