The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Mexican government's lawsuit against major U.S. gun manufacturers, delivering a win for the firearms industry in a test of a federal law that shields them from civil suits.  The SC made the correct decision.

     The high court unanimously rejected Mexico's arguments that its effort to hold firearms makers accountable for the violence wreaked by drug cartels armed with their products should proceed because it satisfied an exception to the liability shield provided through the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, or PLCAA.

     In the case known as Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Mexico had argued that gun manufacturers are knowingly aiding and abetting the unlawful sale of their firearms to straw purchasers, who are trafficking them across the southern border to give to drug cartels.

     But the justices said that because Mexico's complaint does not plausibly allege that the gunmakers criminally aided and abetted retail dealers' unlawful sale of weapons to Mexican traffickers, it is barred by PLCAA. Justice Elena Kagan delivered the opinion for the court, writing that Congress enacted the law to prevent lawsuits like Mexico's. 

     "The predicate exception allows for accomplice liability only when a plaintiff makes a plausible allegation that a gun manufacturer 'participate[d] in' a firearms violation 'as in something that [it] wishe[d] to bring about' and sought to make succeed," she wrote. "Because Mexico's complaint fails to do so, the defendant manufacturers retain their PLCAA-granted immunity."  

     David Pucino, legal director and deputy chief counsel at GIFFORDS Law Center, said that while the Supreme Court's decision ends Mexico's lawsuit against gun manufacturers, it doesn't affect the ability of gun violence prevention groups from holding law-breakers accountable.  "The justices did not give the gun industry the broad immunity it sought. Instead, they reaffirmed that the victims of gun industry misconduct can hold lawbreakers accountable in court," he said in a statement. "All survivors, in the United States, in Mexico, and anywhere else, deserve their day in court, and we will continue to support them in their fight for justice."

     Between 200,000 to 500,000 American-made firearms are trafficked into Mexico each year, a pipeline that's become known as the "iron river." Nearly half of all guns recovered at Mexican crime scenes are manufactured in the U.S., according to data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.