Mexico Appeals in Case Against Gun Manufacturers

On Mar. 14, Mexico filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in its civil complaint against seven gun manufacturers and one wholesale arms distributor. Mexico is requesting the panel to reverse the decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, which dismissed most of its claims on the basis of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA, 15 U.S.C. §§ 7901-7903), and because the court concluded that Mexico failed to state a claim with respect to its other counts. The case, which raises important issues of transnational litigation for corporate accountability, has been discussed in Just Security here, here and here. This post reviews Mexico’s appeal, which argues that the district court erred in defining the focus of the PLCAA so broadly as to apply it extraterritorially to facts and injuries occurring abroad.