American Responsibility for Latin American Gun Violence

I’ve discussed this before, but the moral case for an open borders policy is how horrible the United States has fucked up countries around the world. One of the most egregious ways–and one most Americans really don’t want to see–is that it is our guns that lead to the horrific violence of Latin America. The Supreme Court is taking up a case around Mexico suing the U.S. over this. I have no belief that the Court will do anything but evil here. And Americans are oddly indifferent to us killing each other with our guns, so forget about Mexicans and Salvadorans and the case for immigration based on this. But facts are facts and they need attention.

The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether Mexico may sue gun manufacturers in the United States for aiding in the trafficking of weapons used by drug cartels.

Mexico sued seven gun makers and one distributor in 2021, blaming them for rampant violence caused by illegal gun trafficking from the United States spurred by the demand of drug cartels for military-style weapons.

“For decades, the government and its citizens have been victimized by a deadly flood of military-style and other particularly lethal guns that flows from the U.S. across the border,” Mexico’s lawsuit said, adding that the resulting carnage was “the foreseeable result of the defendants’ deliberate actions and business practices.”

Mexico has strict gun control laws that it says make it virtually impossible for criminals to obtain firearms legally. Indeed, the suit said, its single gun store issues fewer than 50 permits a year. But gun violence is rampant.

The lawsuit, which seeks billions of dollars in damages, said that 70 to 90 percent of the guns recovered at crime scenes in Mexico came from the United States and that gun dealers in border states sold twice as many firearms as dealers in other parts of the country.

It’s all gold for the gun companies. Build that Wall! But only one way. The guns have to keep flowing south.