By: Teresa Mull

The Mexican government is suing several prominent gun manufacturers, alleging they cause “massive damage that the Defendants cause by actively facilitating the unlawful trafficking of their guns to drug cartels and other criminals in Mexico.”

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. federal court in Boston, reports the AP. Familiar names such as Smith & Wesson, Glock, and others are among the defendants.

According to the lawsuit, these use “marketing strategies to promote weapons that are ever more lethal, without mechanisms of security or traceability.”

Mexico is seeking $10 billion in damages. The National Shooting Sports Foundation says the numbers this lawsuit is alleging about the number of U.S. guns recovered at Mexican crime scenes are questionable.

“These allegations are baseless. The Mexican government is responsible for the rampant crime and corruption within their own borders,” Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF senior vice president and general counsel told the AP.

This lawsuit comes at the same time Everytown for Gun Safety, billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun organization, has launched the “Everytown Law Fund” to pump millions of dollars into destroying the gun industry. And on the heels of Remington Arms paying the victims of the tragic Sandy Hook shooting a $33 million settlement.

Teresa Mull ([email protected]) is editor of Gunpowder Magazine.