According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word “chutzpah” meaning raw nerve, is often exemplified by a man who kills his parents and then asks the court for mercy, on the grounds that he is an orphan.
The word, with roots in the Yiddish language, might seem an odd choice to define Mexico’s latest overreach, but it couldn’t be more fitting.
According to ABC News, The Mexican government — suing for unspecified monetary damages — filed another U.S. gun lawsuit Monday, this time against five U.S. gun shops and distributors it claims are responsible for the flow of illegal weapons into Mexico.
Mexico’s first lawsuit, which was recently dismissed, targeted U.S. gun manufacturers and was seeking at least $10 billion in compensation. The second, which Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said was filed in Arizona’s federal district court Monday, targets gun dealers. This is not a new tactic. This criminal complaint was filed in 2021 in Massachusetts. It’s all about money.
“We are suing them because clearly there is a pattern, we contend that it is obvious that there is weapons trafficking and that it is known that these guns are going to our country,” Ebrard said.
Last week, Ebrard threatened that the new lawsuit would target gun shops or dealers in U.S. border states that sell guns to “straw” purchasers passing them on to smugglers, who in turn transport the weapons into Mexico. Marcelo Ebrard, who is unable to acknowledge Mexico is plagued by crime, was affiliated with Mexico’s Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) until 2018.
This is the U.S. Department of State Mexico Travel Advisory, warning that Mexico is “high risk for violent crime – such as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery – are widespread and common in Mexico. The U.S. government has limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in many areas of Mexico, as travel by U.S. government employees to certain areas is prohibited or restricted. In many states, local emergency services are limited outside the state capital or major cities.”