Second Amendment Roundup: Court Seems Disposed to Rule for S&W and Against Mexico

Smith & Wesson Brands v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos appeared to go very well for S&W and not well for Mexico .

Mexico 's lawsuit seeks to hold America 's federally-licensed firearm industry responsible for cartel violence that plagues Mexico .

Peter Bergen : From the oral argument, it appears likely that the Supreme Court will rule narrowly in the defendants' favor on aiding and abetting liability.

Ruben Navarrette : If not corrected, the First Circuit's reasoning will be embraced by anti-gun activists in lawsuits.

He says this departs sharply from decisions of most other courts that have confronted this issue and black letter principles of tort law.

The Supreme Court should take this opportunity to clarify that the standard for proximate cause under PLCAA is consistent with the standard that the Court has used for other federal statutes, including RICO , he says.

Supreme Court should resolve case by finding Mexico has not stated a claim for aiding-and-abetting liability.

It should also go further and find that Mexico 's allegations do not suffice to establish proximate cause.

That will facilitate the resolution of numerous other cases under PLCAA , which the Court will otherwise have to resolve in the future.