The Mexican government is suing U.S. gun manufacturers in U.S. federal court. It wants $10 billion in damages for what it alleges is their culpability for Mexico’s drug war.
While the lawsuit has very little chance of success, it is a nice distraction for President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s failing government.
This is not to say that America has no responsibility for what is going on beyond the southern border. Hundreds of thousands have been murdered or disappeared since the Mexican government began its crackdown on drug cartels in 2006. Those deaths would not have occurred absent the opportunity and vast wealth that flows with the production and transit of illegal drugs into America. Too many U.S. citizens buy these drugs without regard to the associated suffering in Mexico. Every pill and gram of white powder Americans consume is silently stained with innocent Mexican blood.
Still, if he’s truly serious about providing accountability for the violent crime that afflicts his population, Obrador would be much better off suing himself.
The Mexican government is ultimately responsible for enabling the drug war to flourish.
Ignoring the successful example of Colombia, where courageous politicians, police officers, prosecutors, and judges joined with America to counter drug cartels at every turn, Mexico has spent the past 15 years wobbling at the intersection of corruption, confrontation, and compromise. Obrador perfectly encapsulates this dynamic. First, he pledged to defeat the cartels with his “hugs not bullets” slogan. When, shockingly, that slogan didn’t defeat rampant murderers, Obrador ordered security forces to back off. Today, the president blames gun manufacturers for the crimes of cartels, American drug users, and the failure of his own government.
Obrador’s failure reeks.
As with his corrupt predecessor Enrique Pena Nieto, Obrador has obstructed those Mexican patriots who are willing to confront the rampant corruption networks which insulate the cartels. We saw an astonishing example of this dynamic back in January, when Obrador’s government cleared former Defense Minister Gen. Salvador “the Godfather” Zepeda of corruption.
As Zepeda visited the United States in October 2020, he was charged with corruption and drug trafficking. But rather than support his prosecution, Obrador’s government threatened to restrict U.S. counternarcotics efforts unless Zepeda was released. It’s clear what was going on: The highest echelons of the Mexican state knew that allowing Zepeda’s U.S. prosecution would undermine the patronage-corruption networks that allow the cartels to operate. Obrador’s narcostate wouldn’t stand for it.
However, what it will stand for is Mexico’s never-ending festival of death. Forget the Day of the Dead. Consider what was happening this week in the cartel warzone of Jalisco state. Authorities were grappling with yet another murder victim found in a shopping cart. The cartels revel in their theatrical festival of misery and impunity.
It is this alliance of corrupt politicians and drug traffickers, not American guns, that sustains the Mexican drug war. And the best proof of the corruption is the degree to which the highest-ranking cartel leaders and captains live with relative impunity in absolute luxury. This is particularly obvious when it comes to the Jalisco New Generation cartel and the Sinaloa cartel. Those who dare to challenge these criminals are gunned down in broad daylight without a second thought. The video below shows what happened to a police officer who attempted to catch Sinaloa leader Ovidio Guzman Lopez. That operation was suspended after the cartel threatened to massacre a town.
De al menos 100 balazos fue asesinado un policía estatal preventivo adscrito al grupo élite, dentro del estacionamiento de una plaza comercial, en Culiacán, Sinaloa.
El participó en el operativo de la captura de Ovidio, hijo de Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, el pasado 17 de octubre. pic.twitter.com/hrdLi8O1QO— En Pocas Palabras (@PocasPalabrasDk) November 7, 2019
American guns might or might not have killed that police officer. But it was criminal arms traffickers, the Sinaloa cartel, and their Mexican government enablers that bear responsibility for this murder.
On this point, the lawsuit rests on an adventurous factual framing. It asserts that gun manufacturers bear responsibility for the criminal conduct of gun stores that sell firearms to ineligible purchasers, or gun stores that sell to legitimate purchasers who then unlawfully sell their firearms to cartels or facilitators. To accept this legal premise would be to accept that kitchen knife manufacturers should be held culpable for the psychopath who uses its knives to murder instead of eat dinner. Or to accept that car manufacturers be held responsible for terrorists who use their cars as weapons. It is absurd.
Equally ridiculous is the lawsuit’s suggestion that gun manufacturers are fueling violence with their firearm designs. The lawsuit explicitly references Colt’s sale of a pistol emblazoned with the face of Mexican nationalist hero Emiliano Zapata, for example.
Unfortunately, Obrador is no Zapata. Instead, the president’s lawsuit proves that he’s the ultimate man without a mirror.
