Durbin Statement On Supreme Court Decision In SMITH & WESSON V. MEXICO

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the following statement after the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of gun manufacturers in Smith & Wesson v. Mexico:

“Gun trafficking from the United States to Mexico is fueling a cycle of tremendous violence. Lawless gun manufacturers, international criminals, and drug cartels are weaponizing our lax gun laws in America to facilitate violence, traffic drugs, and wreak havoc across the globe.

“This ruling does not address that crisis. While it’s a temporary win for gun manufacturers, the Supreme Court’s decision is narrow and specific to the claims in this case.

“Our fight for common sense gun safety reform continues. My Stop Arming Cartels Act would cut off gun trafficking at its source and strengthen American gun laws, and today’s ruling is further reason to pass it into law.”

Earlier this year, Durbin introduced the bicameral Stop Arming Cartels Act, which would stem the “iron river” of firearms trafficking from the United States to Mexico, enabled by weak American gun laws and dangerous gun industry practices.

The deadly stream of firearms trafficking exacerbates violence, enables cartels who smuggle migrants to our southern border, and facilitates the illicit trade of narcotics, including fentanyl, across the border back into the United States. According to a 2021 study from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), 70 percent of crime guns recovered in Mexico from 2014-2018 and submitted for tracing were U.S.-sourced.

Specifically, the Stop Arming Cartels Act would:

• Prohibit future nongovernmental manufacture, importation, sale, transfer, or possession of .50 caliber rifles;

• Regulate existing .50 caliber rifles under the National Firearms Act, with a fee waiver and 12-month grace period for registration on the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record for those who lawfully possess them under current law;

• Create an exception to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), allowing victims of gun violence to sue manufacturers and dealers who engage in firearm transactions prohibited under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (the “Kingpin Act”);

• Prohibit the sale or transfer of firearms to individuals sanctioned under the Kingpin Act and add Kingpin Act designations to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS); and

• Require firearms dealers to report multiple sales of rifles to state and local law enforcement agencies, as they must currently do for handguns.

The bill is co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Jack Reed (D-RI), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL).

The bill is endorsed by Brady: United Against Gun Violence, Everytown for Gun Safety, GIFFORDS, March for Our Lives, Global Exchange, Global Action on Gun Violence, Amnesty International, and People’s Movement for Peace and Justice.

Bill text is available here. A one-page summary of the bill is available here.

-30-