By Jorge Antonio Rocha
MEXICO CITY (AA) - The Mexican Foreign Ministry said Thursday that it strongly disagrees with the US Supreme Court’s dismissal of a lawsuit by Mexico against American gun manufacturers which claims the companies' loose controls enable the weapons to be illegally trafficked in the Latin American country.
The Supreme Court overturned a previous ruling by the Court of Appeals which had allowed Mexico’s lawsuit to proceed and remanded the case to the District Court for further proceedings in line with its decision.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs firmly expresses its disagreement with the decision issued by the Supreme Court of the United States and will continue to do everything within its power to curb the illicit trafficking of firearms, exhausting all available legal and diplomatic avenues," it said in a statement.
The lawsuit was originally filed by the Mexican government in August 2021 in a District Court in Boston, Massachusetts. At the time, the US judiciary acknowledged that the gun manufacturers had "aided and abetted the illegal trafficking of their weapons into Mexico."
“Mexico has presented solid arguments demonstrating the harm that arms manufacturing companies cause to our country and will continue its fight against arms trafficking and the responsibility of the companies that manufacture and allow the flow of arms to continue fueling violence and nurturing criminal groups that threaten the peace and security of Mexican families,” the ministry added.
The Supreme Court’s decision does not affect a second lawsuit filed by Mexico in Tucson, Arizona in 2022 against five gun dealers, however.