The Supreme Court has delivered a unanimous opinion in the case of Smith & Wesson v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, ruling that a lawsuit filed by the Mexican government against seven major U.S. gun manufacturers and a gun wholesaler is prohibited under the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA). Amy Swearer, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation's Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, expressed approval of the decision.
Swearer said, "A bipartisan Congress passed the PLCAA to protect the Second Amendment from anti-gun activists’ concerted efforts to kneecap the lawful gun industry through frivolous but expensive and time-consuming lawsuits, hoping to browbeat it into ‘voluntary’ submission to their gun control whims."
She further commented on the implications of the ruling: "This opinion is a powerful reminder that foreign governments are equally barred from that type of nefarious interference with the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans."
Kevin D. Roberts, PhD President at The Heritage Foundation
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The lawsuit sought to hold these companies responsible for billions in damages linked to crimes committed in Mexico by drug cartels using weapons legally manufactured and sold in the United States. Swearer suggested that Mexico should "start by looking inward—not at the lawful American gun industry" when addressing its cartel-related violence issues.
The Heritage Foundation maintains that the right to keep and bear arms, as outlined in the Second Amendment, is fundamentally about self-defense rather than hunting or sport shooting. This right is seen as crucial to maintaining liberty.
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