MEXICO SUES TEN U.S. GUN MANUFACTURERS FOR OBVIOUS GUN RUNNING, TARGETING THE MEXICAN MARKET

Without permission from the Secretariat of National Defense, it is illegal to carry a firearm in Mexico, yet countless Mexicans, including innocent bystanders, are gunned down in Mexico's streets in the daily battles between rival drug cartels.

Obviously the turf battles between cartels are not fought with knives or bows and arrows, so where do all these illegal guns come from?

The Mexican government claims they've traced 70% of these illegal weapons to gun manufacturers in the United States and so have filed suit against ten of those companies.

“For decades, the government and its citizens have been victimized by a deadly flood of military-style and other particularly lethal guns that flows from the U.S. across the border,” the lawsuit reads. 

"The flood of weaponry is the foreseeable result of the defendants’ deliberate actions and business practices.”

Emilio Zapata Colt .38

To make its point that U.S. companies target the Mexican market, the Mexican government points to  three guns made by Colt that appear to directly target a Mexican audience, with Spanish nicknames and themes that resonate in Mexico. One of them, a special edition .38 pistol, is engraved with the face of the Mexican revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata and a quote that has been attributed to him:

“It is better to die standing than to live on your knees.”

A member of the Sinaloa cartel was convicted last year of murdering a journalist using the Emilio Zapata .38.

Mexico claims that U.S. gun manufacturers intentionally target Mexico when they produce large numbers of military style automatic weapons they subsequently sell to obvious gun runners.

While the lawsuit might be considered a longshot, Mexico is hoping to get the attention of the United States, the country with the western hemisphere's laxest gun laws.