• A US appeals court has canceled a hearing on Mexico's $10B lawsuit against US gun dealers scheduled for Monday in an Arizona court, according to Mexico's foreign ministry. The ministry says the judge assigned to the case is considering recusing herself. Reuters (LR: 3 CP: 5)
• This is the second of two similar lawsuits, with Mexico claiming US gun manufacturers are liable for gun violence in Mexico, arguing that the companies are aware their guns are smuggled into the country for cartel-related violence. FOX News (LR: 4 CP: 4)
• Mexico estimates that 70% of weapons trafficked into the country originate in the US, and that trafficked weapons were linked to 17K homicides in 2019 alone. Associated Press (LR: 3 CP: 5)
• In September 2022, a federal judge in Boston dismissed Mexico's initial lawsuit against 11 manufacturers, ruling the companies are protected under the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which shields them from lawsuits “resulting from the criminal or unlawful misuse” of their weapons. Mexico was also seeking $10B in damages in that case. Associated Press (LR: 3 CP: 5)
• On appeal, the First Circuit appeared open to the arguments that gun manufacturers knowingly make and sell weapons that can be easily modified in Mexico into automatic weapons. The court appears skeptical of the novel claim that gunmakers are not shielded from liability when it involves a foreign country. Bloomberglaw
• In the Arizona case, the defendants are five gun distributors Mexico accuses of contributing to gun trafficking south of the border. Gun control in Mexico is more stringent than in the US. Al Jazeera (LR: 2 CP: 1)

Right narrative:

• Gun makers in the US are not responsible for Mexico's sorry state. The Mexican government's mismanagement and inability to crackdown on their cartels and US policy failures are the sole causes of the horrific violence in the country. America cannot allow a foreign country to cripple its gun market with their flimsy legal reasoning, with the backing of blue state anti-gun zealots.
  FOX News (LR: 4 CP: 4)

Left narrative:

• The epidemic of gun violence is not isolated to the US, as its lax gun control allows weapons to flow south of the border to fuel an already devastating drug war. Gun makers know that the vast majority of weapons used by the cartels come from the US, and are hiding behind a statute to shield themselves from liability. The courts can and must hold them accountable for the harm that they have caused.
  TPR