U.S. weapons cause more killings in Mexico: report

CAIRO, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- More than 17,000 homicides in Mexico were linked to trafficked weapons in 2019, most of which were from the United States, reported the website of Al Jazeera.

According to an opinion piece by Belen Fernandez, there are no fewer than 7,000 licensed firearms dealers in the southern U.S. state of Texas bordering Mexico, and some half a million firearms are reportedly trafficked each year from the United States into Mexico.

In August, 2021, the Mexican government filed a 10 billion-U.S. dollar lawsuit in Massachusetts federal court against 10 American gun companies -- including Smith &Wesson, Colt, Beretta, and Glock -- which are accused of willfully fuelling violence in Mexico.

According to the suit, these firms have designed and marketed military-style assault weapons and other assorted lethal goodies to cater for criminal cartels and others.

Yet U.S. gunmakers contended: "Under bedrock principles of international law, a foreign nation cannot use its own law to reach across borders and impose liability," asking a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Mexico.

The opinion article called this a "charming assessment" from companies "whose cross-border reach literally kills people, and which form a pillar of society in an imperial superpower that could not care less about international law or borders aside from its own."

"Just ask Iraq and Afghanistan," the article added.

The author quoted a line from the Mexican lawsuit as saying: "As a result of the continued use and possession of many of these (U.S.-manufactured) guns, residents of Mexico will continue to be killed and injured by these guns, and the public will continue to fear for their health, safety, and welfare."