Unanimous Supreme Court Decision

 SMITH & WESSON BRANDS, INC., ET AL. v. ESTADOS UNIDOS MEXICANOS 

Yes, even the leftist justices agreed: Mexico cannot sue American gun makers because some guns are unlawfully trafficked into Mexico.  The decision was written by Justice Kagan, appointed by Obama.  One encouraging quote:

As noted above, Mexico here focuses on the manufacturers’ production of “military tyle” assault weapons, among which it includes AR–15 rifles, AK–47 rifles, and .50 caliber sniper rifles.  See supra, at 6; App. to Pet. for Cert. 121a. But those products are both widely legal and bought by many ordinary consumers. (The AR–15 is the most popular rifle in the country.  See T. Gross, How the AR–15 Became the Bestselling Rifle in the U. S., NPR (Apr. 20, 2023.)  The manufacturers cannot be charged with assisting in criminal acts just because Mexican cartel members like those guns too. The same is true of firearms with Spanish-language names or graphics alluding to Mexican history.  See supra, at 6. Those guns may be “coveted by the cartels,” as Mexico alleges; but they also may appeal, as the manufacturers rejoin, to “millions of law-abiding Hispanic Americans.” Tr. of Oral Arg 80; Reply Brief 20. That leaves only the allegation that the manufacturers have not attempted to make guns with nondefaceable serial numbers.  See supra, at 6. But the failure to improve gun design in that way (which federal law does not require) cannot in the end show that the manufacturers have “join[ed] both mind and hand” with lawbreakers in the way needed to aid and abet.  Direct Sales, 319 U. S., at 713.