Frustrated by years of political inaction in the U.S., gun control advocates have been reassessing their approach, some even going global
about the large number of illegal guns in the country after officials seized a shipment of high-caliber rifles at one of its ports. Around 86% of handguns used in crimes in Toronto that were able to be traced were sourced from the U.S., according toToronto Police Service Deputy Chief Myron Demkiw. “Our problem in Toronto [is] handguns from the United States,” he said.
The Mexican government has argued that U.S. gun manufacturers are largely responsible for the 200,000 guns that it says are smuggled into the country each year. Mexico has some of the strictest gun control laws in the world, according to the United Nations—it specifically prohibits citizens from possessing high-powered weapons and has only issued a few thousand handgun permits in the last decade. Despite this 70% of the 80,000 firearms recovered in Mexico between 2014 and 2018 came from the U.S.
The same types of guns used for mass shootings in the U.S. are often used by cartels in Mexico, says Alejandro Celorio Alcántara, the legal adviser of Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The genesis of the idea to sue U.S. gunmakers came after a 2019 shooting in an El Paso, Texas Walmart, where a 21-year-old man, allegedly targeting Latinos, killed 23 people after posting anti-immigrant messages online, Alcántara says.
Instead, Mexico’s legal argument hinges on the idea that, as a country, it is harmed by the actions of numerous gunmakers because of the economic impact of gun violence.The government of Mexico had entertained the idea of suing gunmakers a decade or so ago, Alcántara says, but Lowy helped the current administration figure out how to make the case now.
The Mexican government is also putting diplomatic pressure on the U.S. government to step up gun control. The U.S. and Mexico has established ain which both countries committed to address illicit firearms, among other topics. The legal action is one more tool in Mexico’s toolbelt, Alcántara says. He and Lowy will both testify about the firearms industry’s corporate responsibility in the violation of human rights in Mexico on Oct. 25 at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.