NASSAU, Bahamas (CMC) — The Bahamas Government has welcomed the ruling by the United States Appeals Court in favour of Mexico’s attempts to file a lawsuit against US gun manufacturers, alleging that their negligent business practices facilitate the illicit trafficking of their products into Mexico.

Last year, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, The Bahamas, Jamaica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago had joined an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief filed by Mexico appealing a decision in US court to hold gun makers responsible for facilitating the trafficking of deadly weapons across the border.

“The guns used in the commission of violent crimes in The Bahamas are not manufactured here, but instead, are manufactured abroad and illegally trafficked across our borders,” a statement issued then by the Office of the Prime Minister in The Bahamas read in part.

National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said the Government feels vindicated by the US Appeal Court’s decision.

“The fact that the case will now move forward is gratifying and encouraging,” Munroe said, adding “of course in any litigation you often have settlements, and so a part of the case the Mexicans put is that Smith and Wesson should be more responsible in not supplying people who they know may be selling to straw purchasers.

“I think the prime minister’s decision, the Government’s decision, is vindicated by this decision and we look forward to the further conduct of the matter,” he said, telling reporters The Bahamas would be following the matter closely.

“If this goes all the way to trial through the appellate process and is successful, it would certainly set the precedent for anyone who could establish the same factual basis as Mexico to seek recourse,” Munroe said, noting the opposition that had been raised when Nassau took the decision to join in the court battle against the gun manufacturers.

“…Other persons were suggesting that we were wasting our time; the prime minister’s position, which I think is a good one, is that when you have a serious problem you use all the possible means you have to address it and that’s really what we are doing.”

Caribbean leaders at the end of a two-day symposium on violence as a public health issue held last April in Trinidad and Tobago, declared a war on guns to combat the illegal trade which they said “provides the weapons that contribute significantly to crime and violence in our region”.

In their declaration, titled ‘War on Guns’, the regional leaders said they were also calling on the United States to join the Caribbean in “our war on guns and urgently adopt and take action to stop the illegal exportation of firearms and ammunition into the Caribbean”.

In an unprecedented decision earlier this week, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston, Massachusetts ruled in favour of the Mexican Government, unanimously ruling that Mexico had successfully demonstrated that the arms manufacturers and distributors do not enjoy immunity for their negligent business practices, which facilitate the illicit trafficking of their products into Mexico.

In August 2021, Mexico had filed a US$10-billion civil lawsuit for damages against US gun manufacturers that, through their carelessness and negligence, actively facilitate the trafficking of their products into Mexican territory.

But in September 2022, the trial court judge dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that a federal law called the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) protected and gave immunity to the defendant companies even when the damage caused by their carelessness and negligence occurred in Mexican territory. Mexico then filed an appeal.

Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has also welcomed the US ruling.

“I feel satisfied that it was a good thing for Trinidad and Tobago to align itself with the arguments and the Mexican lawsuit because we face the same problem that Mexico is complaining about,” Rowley told the Trinidad Express newspaper.