Among the most egregious travestues of civil justice in recent memory was the Sandy Hook lawsuit against Remington.

The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act was passed, quite explicitly, to stop vexatious lawsuits against the gun industry when criminals used guns that manufacturers sold through legal channels to licensed distributors.

The Sandy Hook parents convinced a judge to buy the bullshit that the PLCAA didn’t protect Remington because Remington’s marketing of Bushmaster was illegal.

Not that there was any evidence that Adam Lanza ever saw one of those ads, or that if he did, that was his inspiration to murder his mother and steal her Bushmaster rifle.

But Connecticut is an anti-gun state, and you know Leftists: For my friends everything and my enemies, the wall.  The law didn’t matter when they had the ability to punish a gun maker for being a gun maker.

When the ghost of Remington and their insurance companies chose to settle the lawsuit, I knew it would be bad for the firearms industry.

Now Colt is being targeted by the Mexican government for the same thing.

El Jefe, El Grito, and the Emiliano Zapata 1911.

All of those are Spanish-named Colt guns manufactured at one point in the past few decades. Translated, the first two names mean The Boss and The Shout (a tribute to Mexico’s Independence), while the third is a reference to Emiliano Zapata, a leader during the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century who fought for the rural poor and is now regarded as a national hero.

Some of these models display Mexico’s national symbol along with the date of the nation’s independence day. Others have quotes and images engraved on the barrel attributed to Zapata. Some of them even have Aztec designs laid over the gun’s grip.

But all of them have the words “HARTFORD, CONN. U.S.A.” engraved on their barrels.

Gun designs like these, Mexico argued against Connecticut-based Colt in a 2021 lawsuit, don’t “even try to hide its pandering to the criminal market in Mexico.”

From this article, you would never know that these guys were distributor limited editions of no more than 500 models each.

The Zapada 1911 was released in 2019 for the centennial celebration of the Mexican Revolution.  Only 500 were made.

The Aztec 1911 is a 500 piece Talo distributor exclusive edition.

The El Jefe model was a Lew Horton special edition of 350 pieces.

These are collector grade guns that sold for thousands of dollars brand new.

The idea that these were made to attract the attention of cartel thugs is ridiculous.

Not just are these guns not well advertised, but I doubt Mexican cartel trigger pullers are ordering Talo special editions.

While the allegation wasn’t a novel one in international politics, its transition into a legal complaint was a first of its kind. A country’s government was formally claiming economic losses and fatal injuries caused by gun trafficking facilitated by a distributor and seven U.S. gunmakers: Colt’s Manufacturing Company, Smith & Wesson Brands, Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, Beretta U.S.A. Corp., Glock, Inc., Sturm Ruger & Co. Inc., and Century International Arms, Inc.

And Mexico isn’t just seeking monetary relief, but also court mandates that would require the gunmakers to improve monitoring of their distribution systems, ensure their guns are safe to use and finance projects focused on deterring gun trafficking.

This isn’t the responsibility of gun companies who sell to reputable dealers.

This is the fault of the US government that trafficked guns you Mexico and has utterly failed at border security.

It’s also the fault of the corrupt Mexican government.

Colt’s place in U.S. history is regarded by some as one of innovation and success, evident by the 2008 National Historic Landmark designation of Coltsville Historic District, where the former Colt factory is located. But in Mexico, where more than 8,000 Colt guns have been recovered since 2010, according to Mexican military data, Colt is partly to blame for some of the gun violence by drug cartels, Mexico says in the lawsuit.

We’re any of them those special editions?

For example, according to the leaked data, a .38 caliber El Jefe Colt pistol was recovered in August 23, 2019. The trace points to an original purchase at AMCLO Home & Hardware gun shop in Roma, Texas.

And Mexico says that those guns being trafficked into the country are ending lives, providing various examples of deaths in Mexico where the murder weapon was a Colt gun. In one of them, a version of the Emiliano Zapata 1911 was used to murder a Mexican investigative journalist named Miroslava Breach Velducea.

The answer is two.

I’m curious how many of those 8,000 Colts were actual Colt M4 Mexican police contract rifles.

Of those Colt manufactured guns, more than 5,000 of them were pistols and about 2,100 were rifles, making up 65% and 25%, respectively.

The answer is, probably most of those 2,000, considering when was the last time you saw an actual Colt AR14 in stores.

To make the argument that they don’t play a major role in the cartel’s gun supply, Mexico points to their own gun laws that ban the civilian use of assault weapons, and to the fact that there is only one gun store in the entire country, which issues fewer than 50 permits a year and is managed by the Mexican military.

Mexican officials claim that most of the guns they’ve recovered have been traced back to the U.S., and it’s confirmed by federal data from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

ATF data shows that for every year since 2016, about half of all firearms recovered in Mexico and submitted for tracing were traced back to a U.S. manufacturer. Guns traced back to the U.S., regardless of where they were manufactured, push the share up to about 70% each year.

This is mathematical bullshit.

Half the guns Mexico recovered and submitted for tracing to the US were from the US.  I’m shocked.

I’d assume that’s because the guns not submitted for tracing were out of Mexican police armories or the inventories of other Latin American narco states, and the Mexican government knows that.

I’ve seen a lot of videos of cartel shootouts and I’ve never seen that many full autos sold in US gun stores.

Mexico adds that even if PLCAA applies, the gunmakers’ violation of state or federal laws regarding the marketing or sale of guns provide an exception to PLCAA, eliminating the immunity granted to gunmakers and allowing the case to move forward. But Mexico doesn’t seek the exception through CUTPA, which is what happened in the Sandy Hook case. Instead, Mexico argues that the gunmakers violated numerous federal laws, such as the National Firearms Act and the Gun Control Act, which regulate fully automatic weapons and its sales.

If Mexico is arguing that Colt violated the NFA, that means they are recovering full autos that are not for civilian sale in the US.  Those have to be law enforcement or military sales.  Those guns went to governments, then to cartels through corruption.

And others agreed. After Mexico’s appeal, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong and 14 other state attorneys general filed as friends of the court in the case, siding with Mexico saying that the district court made an “error” in not considering whether the alleged violation of federal statutes allow for an exception to PLCAA.

Mexico would rather sue American gun companies than fight corruption and crime in Mexico.

Of course anti-gun politicians would side with the corrupt Mexican government over American gun companies.

They are not interested in justice, only hurting gun makers.

I personally would rather nuke Mexico thsn let Mexico sue Colt into bankruptcy.