Mexico has long been plagued by drug-related violence, with the country seeing more than 30,000 homicides in 2023 alone.

While the Mexican government has used that as an excuse to sue U.S. gun makers, the Supreme Court appears ready to block its case. 

Gun manufacturers say criminals are to blame for deaths

ABC News noted this week how the targeted firearm manufacturers submitted a brief to America's highest judicial body which argued that "Mexico's alleged injuries all stem from the unlawful acts of foreign criminals."

It further stressed that the Supreme Court has "repeatedly held that it requires a direct connection between a defendant's conduct and the plaintiff's injury."

"Thus, the general rule is that a company that makes or sells a lawful product is not a proximate cause of harms resulting from the independent criminal misuse of that product," it continued.

"In its zeal to attack the firearms industry, Mexico seeks to raze bedrock principles of American law that safeguard the whole economy," the defendants asserted.

"It is the criminal who is responsible for his actions, not the company that made or sold the product," they went on to maintain.

Federal law bans most lawsuits against gun makers

ABC News recalled how a federal district court dismissed Mexico's lawsuit in 2022, citing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCA).

Passed in 2005, the legislation generally bars civil suits against gun manufacturers for crimes committed by individuals who misuse their products.

However, the PLCA contains an exception under which a firearm maker can be sued if it violated laws relating to the making or selling of weapons.

The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reinstated the lawsuit last year, concluding Mexico had a plausible argument that the PLCA's exception applied.

Even liberal justices seem skeptical of lawsuit

Yet ABC News pointed out on Monday that even some of the Supreme Court's more liberal members seemed skeptical of Mexico's position.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared likely to block a $10 billion lawsuit against U.S. gun makers as justices raised concerns about allowing the government of Mexico to hold firearm manufacturers liable for cartel violence south of the border. https://t.co/cMyqmjlnJv

— ABC News (@ABC) March 5, 2025

"We have repeatedly said mere knowledge is not enough [for liability]," Obama-appointed Justice Sonia Sotomayor was quoted as saying.

"You have to aid and abet in some way. You have to intend and take affirmative action to ... participate in what they're doing," she observed.