by Roger D. Jones

Tragedy unfolds between two nations that once called each other friends. The United States, a land of immense power and promise, has long known that the vast majority of guns used to commit violence in Mexico are made in its own factories, sold through its own stores, and smuggled across its own border. These weapons are not used by ordinary Mexicans; they are the lifeblood of organized crime, wielded by those who traffic drugs, destroy communities, and terrorize the innocent.

Mexico, by contrast, has some of the strictest gun laws in the world. Its culture remains rooted in family, faith, and community, and its people have shown profound warmth and friendship toward their northern neighbors. There is no inherent hatred, no deep racism toward Americans among the Mexican people, only sorrow and confusion at how such cruelty could be allowed to continue.

Yet decade after decade, the U.S. government turns a blind eye to the tens of thousands of weapons flowing south each year, weapons that slaughter the very people who harvest the food, build the goods, and sustain the shared fabric of North America. This inaction is not born of ignorance. It is born of politics, profit, and a darker undercurrent, the racism and moral indifference that allow decision-makers to see Mexican suffering as distant and tolerable.

To knowingly permit such devastation is a moral betrayal of the most basic human ideal: that every life has equal worth.

In a historic, yet ultimately thwarted effort to challenge this moral failure, the government of Mexico launched legal action against major U.S. gun manufacturers. In August 2021, it filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court accusing some of America's biggest firearms companies of negligent business practices that facilitate smuggling guns to Mexico and seeking what was estimated to be at least $10 billion dollars in compensation for the "massive damage" wrought. The suit alleged that companies such as Smith & Wesson, Beretta USA, Colt's Manufacturing Company, Glock, and Barrett Firearms knowingly designed, marketed, and distributed firearms that ended up in the hands of drug cartels, arguing that the flow of arms is not a natural phenomenon, but the foreseeable result of profit-driven business choices.

According to Mexico's filings, roughly 70 percent of firearms seized at crime scenes in Mexico trace back to the United States. The case gained traction in 2024 when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit revived Mexico's claim, recognizing that the gun companies may have aided and abetted illegal trafficking. Yet in June 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously dismissed the case, shielding manufacturers under the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.

This legal saga speaks volumes. On one level, it is a battle for accountability, for victims, for dignity, for truth. On another level, it is a message to the world: even when the system is rigged, courage can still rise to meet it. Mexico's attempt to hold U.S. companies to account may have been blocked, but the cry was heard.

Perhaps this is a modern echo of an unfulfilled Manifest Destiny, not of territory, but of control. By allowing the illegal flow of weapons into the hands of evil entities, a shadow empire is maintained, one that thrives on fear, dependency, and silence. These weapons do more than kill; they steal the very lifeblood of communities, eroding the hope and strength of those who long simply to live in peace.

And yet, curiously, U.S. corporations operating within Mexico seem untouched by the chaos that consumes so many towns and families. Are they protected? Or is this, in truth, organized crime of the highest order: the collusion of power, money, and willful blindness?

Mexico is, in many ways, still a young nation, yearning to grow into its full potential, to rise above the scars of colonization and corruption. Its once friendly neighbor to the north must now decide: will it continue to profit from its neighbor's pain, or will it finally extend a genuine hand of justice, cooperation, and compassion?

The time has come to turn the tides, to defend the innocent voices of Mexico and beyond, and to end this long night of fear and indifference.

For every bullet fired in Mexico, there is an echo of responsibility in the halls of Washington and the boardrooms of America's gun industry. This is not just a political failure; it is a spiritual blindness, a refusal to see the suffering of one's neighbor as one's own.

To the United States: If you truly wish to confront the epidemic of drugs flowing north, you must first stop the weapons flowing south. History will not judge your silence kindly.

Until conscience prevails over commerce, and compassion triumphs over convenience, this tragedy will remain an open wound, bleeding innocence.

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Roger D. Jones has been living in San Miguel for 43 years, married to Rosana Alvarez, a local woman and a co-founder of Vía Orgánica, for 40 of those. Roger is a community organizer, who is happily living The Mexican Dream. "With awareness, love, and common unity — we can heal our precious planet."

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