Overview

• Justice Elena Kagan wrote for a unanimous court that Mexico failed to plausibly allege gunmakers aided and abetted unlawful arms sales, barring the claim under the PLCAA exception.
• The 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act broadly shields firearms manufacturers from liability for third-party misuse, with only a narrow exception for knowingly illegal sales.
• Mexico filed its lawsuit in 2021 in Boston against companies including Smith & Wesson and Interstate Arms, alleging that U.S. manufacturers maintained a distribution chain feeding cartel violence.
• Lower courts were split: a federal judge dismissed the case under the PLCAA in 2022, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived it in 2024, and the Supreme Court’s decision now terminates the litigation.
• Mexico’s Foreign Ministry expressed strong disagreement with the decision and said it will pursue further legal and diplomatic remedies to curb illicit arms trafficking.