Heller, guns and Mexico

John Lunstroth

In the NYT's magazine article on narco-violence in Mexico today, the point is made that the narcos buy their guns in the open market for guns in the United States, and then ship them across the border for use against the Mexican state. There is clearly an international issue raised by this situation that apparently was neither briefed by amici as far as I can tell nor addressed in the opinion. Do or should other states or entities with standing at the international level have a justiciable interest in the ruling? Is it a breach of the human rights obligations of the US? Of course, keep in mind that the "top five countries profiting from the arms trade are the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council: the USA, UK, France, Russia, and China." They refuse to enter into treaties limiting arms sales.

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