{"id":107701,"date":"2025-02-21T14:40:38","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T20:40:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=107701"},"modified":"2025-02-21T14:40:38","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T20:40:38","slug":"107701","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=107701","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Mexican President Threatens Double-Down Lawfare to Cover for Cartels<\/a><\/p>\n

By Larry Keane<\/p>\n

Mexico has revealed there are no limits to the depths to which it will sink to threaten America\u2019s law-abiding firearm industry and the Second Amendment. Mexico\u2019s government continues to run interference for the narco-terrorist drug cartels that are fueling rampant murder and corruption in their own country. It is also a damning indictment on the nascent Mexican presidency\u2019s entanglement with drug kingpins.<\/p>\n

Mexico\u2019s lawyers \u2013 supported by American gun control activist and lawyer\u00a0Jonathan Lowy<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 will appear before the U.S. Supreme Court on\u00a0March 4<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to argue that their frivolous lawsuit should be allowed to proceed. That case \u2013\u00a0Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc., et al., v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos<\/em><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 was petitioned to SCOTUS by the industry members who are being sued by Mexico. Mexico contends that U.S. firearm manufacturers are legally responsible for $10 billion in damages to compensate Mexico for costs it incurs when Mexican narco-terrorists illegally smuggle firearms into Mexico and criminally misuse them on their side of the border. Mexico is also asking a U.S. court to issue an injunction dictating how and which firearms Americans may purchase when exercising their Second Amendment rights in America. NSSF\u2019s amicus brief filed in the case\u00a0argues<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0that Mexico\u2019s lawsuit is prohibited by the bipartisan Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) and lacks legal merit.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump, in announcing his executive order imposing a tariff on Mexican imports,\u00a0said,<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0\u201cMexican drug trafficking organizations have an intolerable alliance with the government of Mexico. The government of Mexico has afforded safe haven for the cartels to engage in the manufacturing and transportation of dangerous narcotics, which collectively have led to the overdose deaths of hundreds of thousands of American victims.\u201d \u00a0President Trump\u00a0issued an Executive Order<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0the day he took office to kick start the process of designating the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.<\/p>\n

This week, President Trump followed up that process with Secretary of State Marco Rubio\u00a0officially declaring<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0Tren de Aragua, MS-13, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the United Cartels, the Gulf Cartel, the Northeast Cartel and the Michoac\u00e1n Family as foreign terrorist organizations.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

None of this is sitting well with Mexican President Sheinbaum.<\/p>\n

Last week, at a\u00a0press conference,<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0she threatened that, \u201cIf they declare these criminal groups as terrorists, then we\u2019ll have to expand our U.S. lawsuit,\u201d to claim that U.S. firearm manufacturers are complicit in aiding and supporting the narco-terrorist drug cartels.<\/p>\n

Courting Drug Cartels<\/h4>\n

\u201cWe categorically reject the slander made by the White House against the Mexican government about alliances with criminal organizations,\u201d the Mexican president\u00a0wrote on social media<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0at the time, according to CBS News report.<\/p>\n

While President Sheinbaum dismisses President Trump\u2019s claim, she\u00a0just hosted<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0former Mexican Secretary of Defense Salvador Cienfuegos on stage for a ceremony just a week ago. Cienfuegos, known as the \u201cGodfather\u201d to drug cartels, was the most-senior Mexican government official to be arrested by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for drug trafficking, which is hand-in-glove with the illegal smuggling of firearms into Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there is such an alliance anywhere, it is in the U.S. gun shops that sell high-powered weapons to these criminal groups,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

To be sure, Mexico already has another pending case against several Arizona-based firearm retailers,\u00a0Estados Unidos Mexicanos v. Diamondback Shooting Sports Inc. et al<\/em>.<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0Mexico alleges that several firearm retailers are complicit with the illegal straw purchases of firearms that were criminally smuggled across the international border.<\/p>\n

Evidence Proves Otherwise<\/h4>\n

Here is the problem with Mexico\u2019s claims. They cannot prove U.S. firearm manufacturers or the retailers are, in any way, responsible. The firearms were legally manufactured and sold in accordance with U.S. laws. That includes an FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) verification. The criminal action is by those individuals who lie to licensed retailers to illegally straw purchase a firearm for the cartel smugglers. They are committing crimes, not the manufacturer and not the retailer following the law. The irony is that the firearm industry has a partnership with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) called \u201cDon\u2019t Lie for the Other Guy<\/strong><\/a>\u2122\u201d to warn the public that buying a gun for someone who can\u2019t is a federal crime that carries up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.<\/p>\n

Not only can\u2019t Mexico prove any validity to their frivolous claims, evidence of their own complicity is mountainous. A\u00a02023 CBS Reports<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0investigation discovered that there were dozens of narco-terrorist drug cartels paying Americans to illegally straw purchase firearms throughout the United States. Those firearms were funneled to Mexico, through networks that operate in the same manner as terrorist cells. Whistleblowers\u00a0provided information<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) about the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives\u2019 (ATF)\u00a0Project Thor<\/strong>,<\/a>\u00a0which was successfully dismantling these networks until it was abruptly, and without explanation, halted.<\/p>\n

Sen. Grassley demanded answers from then-ATF Director Steven Dettelbach. Director Dettelbach resigned his post without ever providing those answers.<\/p>\n

President Sheinbaum is busy deflecting any responsibility her government has for its known relationships with narco-terrorist drug cartels. She made no mention of Cienfuegos\u2019 presence \u2013 in his old military uniform \u2013 at a national ceremony where he stood just feet from her. Nor did she address allegations of her predecessor and prot\u00e9g\u00e9 former Mexican President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador, who is\u00a0alleged to have raked in millions<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0from Mexican drug kingpins even as he rolled out a soft-on-cartels \u201chugs, not bullets<\/a><\/strong>\u201d policy. President Sheinbaum was the\u00a0handpicked successor<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0that L\u00f3pez Obrador supported through recent Mexican elections.<\/p>\n

Show The Rest<\/h4>\n

President Sheinbaum\u2019s latest salvo to smear U.S. firearm manufacturers was to\u00a0claim<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0that the overwhelming majority of firearms recovered at Mexican crime scenes are coming from the United States. That was the same tale propelled by President Barack Obama, no friend to U.S. firearm manufacturers, in 2009. It\u00a0wasn\u2019t true then<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and it\u2019s not true now.<\/p>\n

Fox News\u00a0reported in 2009<\/a><\/strong>, \u201cWhat\u2019s true, an ATF spokeswoman told FOXNews.com, in a clarification of the statistic used by her own agency\u2019s assistant director, \u2018is that over 90 percent of the\u00a0traced<\/em>\u00a0firearms originate from the U.S.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The report continued, \u201cBut a large percentage of the guns recovered in Mexico do not get sent back to the U.S. for tracing, because it is obvious from their markings that they do not come from the U.S. \u2018Not every weapon seized in Mexico has a serial number on it that would make it traceable, and the U.S. effort to trace weapons really only extends to weapons that have been in the U.S. market,\u2019\u201d Matt Allen, special agent of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),\u00a0told Fox News<\/a><\/strong>. A 2012 report from NSSF\u00a0debunked claims<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to show that only 12 percent of firearms criminally misused in Mexico were originally sold in the United States<\/p>\n

Even the ATF\u2019s own Firearm Trace Data report covering 2016-2021 came with a disclaimer. The\u00a0report states<\/a><\/strong>, \u201cNot all firearms used in crime are traced and not all firearms traced are used in crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s something that Sen. Grassley\u00a0recognized<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in 2012. Mexico is only submitting guns for ATF tracing that officials there know are from the United States. NSSF\u00a0noted in 2022<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0that even properly-supplied firearms for Mexico\u2019s military and police have a notorious habit of being found on the wrong side of the crime scene tape in Mexico. A report then noted that Mexico\u2019s Army was\u00a0losing 30 percent of their firearms<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0that were legally purchased and exported from U.S. manufacturers.<\/p>\n

None of this matters to Mexico that thinks blame-shifting lawfare in U.S. courts is a convenient tool to distract attention from its \u201cintolerable alliance\u201d with the narco- terrorists wreaking havoc in both the United States and Mexico.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mexican President Threatens Double-Down Lawfare to Cover for Cartels By Larry Keane Mexico has revealed there are no limits to the depths to which it will sink to threaten America\u2019s law-abiding firearm industry and the Second Amendment. Mexico\u2019s government continues to run interference for the narco-terrorist drug cartels that are fueling rampant murder and corruption … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government","category-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=107701"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107703,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107701\/revisions\/107703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=107701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=107701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=107701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}