Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

California Sides with Mexico Against U.S. Gun Industry and Second Amendment Rights

Monday, January 27, 2025

California Sides with Mexico Against U.S. Gun Industry and Second Amendment Rights

The willingness of some in the U.S. to aid a foreign power in an assault on American industry and Americans’ Constitutional rights is sad and disturbing. On January 17, California Attorney General Rob Bonta proclaimed his support for Mexico’s position in the ongoing case Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc, et al. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos. The case, now at the U.S. Supreme Court, is an attempt by the Mexican government, working with U.S.-based gun control advocates, to undo the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), scapegoat the U.S. firearms industry for Mexican lawlessness, and impose billions of dollars in liability on American gun manufacturers for violence perpetrated by violent criminals south of the border.

Readers should know that the PLCAA was enacted in 2005, with broad bipartisan support, to protect the firearms industry from frivolous and politically-motivated lawsuits. In the mid-1990s, gun control advocates, big city politicians, and trial attorneys teamed up to use the courts to bilk the gun industry for millions and force them to agree to gun control measures that gun control supporters were unable to enact in Congress. The suits sought to hold members of the industry liable for the criminal behavior of those who misused their products.

These suits, though without legal merit, posed a grave threat to the industry – and in turn, American gun owners and their ability to exercise their Second Amendment rights. In 1998, the executive director of the anti-gun U.S. Conference of Mayors was quoted by the New York Times as stating, “[t]he lawyers are seeing green on this issue… they think they can bring the gun industry to its knees.” One of those attorneys “seeing green,” John Coale, was quoted in a 2000 Washington Post article remarking, “[t]he legal fees alone are enough to bankrupt the industry.”

The PLCAA merely prohibits lawsuits against the gun industry for the criminal misuse of their products by a third party. Suits against the industry for knowingly unlawful sales, negligent entrustment, and those predicated on traditional products liability grounds are still permitted.

Such a federal law shouldn’t even be necessary.

The PLCAA was enacted to codify a longstanding principle of tort law that gun control advocates sought to erode. U.S. tort law has long held that a person or entity cannot be held responsible for a third party’s criminal acts. Simply put: people are responsible for their own behavior, not the behavior of others. Therefore, if a violent criminal acquires and misuses a firearm to commit a crime, it is the criminal who is liable for the conduct, not the company that produced the firearm. Just like how Chevrolet isn’t responsible for the actions of drunk drivers.

Despite the clear intent of Congress, gun control advocates set to work trying to invent a way around the statute. The most recent effort involves U.S. gun control advocates collaborating with Mexico.

Counsel for Mexico includes longtime Brady (formerly Handgun Control, Inc.) attorney Jonathan Lowy, now of Global Action on Gun Violence. An October 2022 Politico item reported, “Earlier this month, Global Action on Gun Violence quietly filed paperwork with the DOJ under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, with [Jonathan] Lowy and Elizabeth Burke, who was also an attorney at Brady, registering as agents of Mexico.”

In their attempt to undo the PLCAA, Mexico and these gun control advocates have advanced the bizarre theory, as NRA’s amicus brief summarizes, that members of the U.S. gun industry “intend to appeal to Mexican cartels by depicting their firearms in patriotic advertisements featuring the American military, law enforcement, and American flags.” Aside from being an attack on the Americans’ ability to access firearms to exercise their Second Amendment rights, the argument imperils the First Amendment right of companies to communicate with legitimate customers.

Mexico also contends that gun industry members are liable for cartel violence because they may be aware that unknown bad actors could use the lawful stream of commerce to criminally divert their firearms. To Mexico and their collaborators, it doesn’t matter that the companies haven’t been shown to have violated the mountain of federal regulations concerning firearm distribution.

To show their support for the foreign government, California joined 15 other states in filing an amicus curiae brief at the Supreme Court advocating to undo the PLCAA. Bonta’s press release accompanying the announcement of the brief was explicit that joining the document was about backing Mexico against a U.S. industry, stating,

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.

While California’s assistance to Mexico may surprise some, the attempt to undermine Americans’ Second Amendment rights shouldn’t. In 2021, California joined an amicus curiae brief supporting New York’s position in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, in which the Supreme Court made clear that the Second Amendment protects the right to carry a firearm outside the home for self-defense. One of Bonta’s predecessors as California Attorney General, Kamala Harris, has denied that the Second Amendment protects an individual right.

Those seeking a robust defense of the PLCAA and America’s Second Amendment tradition, and a repudiation of Mexico and its collaborators’ arguments, are encouraged to read NRA’s amicus curiae brief to the U.S. Supreme Court here. Oral arguments before the Court have been set for March 4.

TRENDING NOW
NRA Statement on President Trump’s Executive Order Protecting Second Amendment Rights

News  

Second Amendment  

Friday, February 7, 2025

NRA Statement on President Trump’s Executive Order Protecting Second Amendment Rights

Today, the White House announced a new Executive Order to protect and expand the Second Amendment rights of all law-abiding Americans. This is the first action taken by President Donald J. Trump to carry through ...

The Hearing Protection Act Introduced in the 119th Congress

News  

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

The Hearing Protection Act Introduced in the 119th Congress

U.S. Representative Ben Cline (R-VA-06) and U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) recently reintroduced the Hearing Protection Act (H.R. 404/S. 364) in the 119th Congress. This commonsense legislation will give gun owners and hunters the opportunity to ...

New Mexico: Anti-Gun Extremists Introduce Sweeping Gun Ban

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

New Mexico: Anti-Gun Extremists Introduce Sweeping Gun Ban

As they have tried in the past, anti-gun radicals in the New Mexico Senate have introduced Senate Bill 279, the "GOSAFE Act," a near all-encompassing ban on semi-automatic and NFA firearms.

“Political Grief,” Gun Control, and Guilt by Association

News  

Monday, February 3, 2025

“Political Grief,” Gun Control, and Guilt by Association

Across the country, voters disappointed with President Trump’s election are coping with their feelings in various ways.

Colorado: Senate Postpones Vote on Semi-Auto Ban

Friday, January 31, 2025

Colorado: Senate Postpones Vote on Semi-Auto Ban

Today, January 31st, the State Senate postponed the floor vote for Senate Bill 25-003, the near all-encompassing semi-automatic ban. The vote has been rescheduled for next Friday, February 7th.

Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Strikes Down Federal Laws Prohibiting FFLs From Selling Handguns to 18-to-20-Year-Olds

Friday, January 31, 2025

Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Strikes Down Federal Laws Prohibiting FFLs From Selling Handguns to 18-to-20-Year-Olds

Yesterday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(b)(1) and (c)(1)—which together forbid Federal Firearms Licensees from selling handguns to 18-to-20-year-olds—violate the Second Amendment.

Colorado: Senate Delays Vote on Semi-Auto Ban A Second Time

Friday, February 7, 2025

Colorado: Senate Delays Vote on Semi-Auto Ban A Second Time

For the second week in a row, the State Senate has postponed the floor vote for Senate Bill 25-003, the near all-encompassing semi-automatic ban

Urge Congress to Protect Your Right to Carry – Contact Your Member of Congress Today!

News  

Wednesday, January 8, 2025

Urge Congress to Protect Your Right to Carry – Contact Your Member of Congress Today!

Dear NRA Member: U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (R-NC) has reintroduced the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act (H.R. 38). Representative Hudson, the longstanding champion of this legislation, along with more than 120 of his colleagues have ...

Hawaii: Gun Ban Bills Scheduled for Public Hearings this Thursday!

Monday, February 3, 2025

Hawaii: Gun Ban Bills Scheduled for Public Hearings this Thursday!

On Thursday, February 6th, the House Committee on Judiciary and Public Affairs will hold a public hearing on several bills that will further restrict your Second Amendment rights. 

CMP Resumes 1911 Pistol Sales, Offers Streamline Process and Incentives

News  

Monday, February 3, 2025

CMP Resumes 1911 Pistol Sales, Offers Streamline Process and Incentives

One day before Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States, he held a Make America Great Again rally in Washington, D.C., where he spoke to more than 20,000 energized supporters ...

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.