Anti-Gunners Want Canada To Try Where Mexico Failed

An anti-Second Amendment group who convinced Mexico to launch a failed suit against firearms manufacturers now wants Canada to go to court.

Global Action on Gun Violence (GAGV) announced in a Wednesday release that nearly 85% of what the group labeled as “crime guns” in Canada originated from the United States. GAGV President Jonathan Lowy, a former attorney for Brady United, vowed to end the alleged “pandemic” of violence via litigation similar to a suit Mexico pursued against gun manufacturers during the Biden administration.

“The U.S. gun violence epidemic is causing a regional and global pandemic,” Lowy said in the release. “This data confirms that overwhelming majorities of crime guns in Canada and the Caribbean flow directly from U.S. gun shops, as a result of reckless gun industry practices enabled by weak U.S. laws. GAGV is committed to stopping this crime gun pipeline at the most effective point — the gun industry source.”

The release cited tracing data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), claiming that Ohio was the top source of so-called “crime guns” found in Canada. The allegations were disputed by National Shooting Sports Foundation Senior Vice President & General Counsel Lawrence Keene.

“Mr. Lowy’s claim that the ‘overwhelming majorities of crime guns in Canada and the Caribbean flow directly from U.S. gun shops’ is knowingly false,” Keene told the Daily Caller News Foundation when reached for comment. “As he did when he sued firearm manufacturers on behalf of Mexico, he purposely ignores the illegal smuggling of firearms across international borders by criminals.”

“The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously dismissed his frivolous lawsuit,” Keene continued. “ATF statistics demonstrate that less than 1% of legally exported US firearms are traced in connection with crimes in other countries.”

The organization previously assisted Mexico in a 2021 lawsuit targeting firearms manufacturers, only to have the litigation thrown out by the Supreme Court in June 2025. The Supreme Court said that the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act’s provisions blocked the litigation absent findings that the firearms manufacturers had broken the law.

ATF remarked on the limitations of firearms tracing in Volume III of the National Firearms Commerce and Tracing Assessment.

“Firearms selected for tracing are not chosen for purposes of determining which types, makes or models of firearms are used for illicit purposes,” ATF said. “The firearms selected do not constitute a random sample and should not be considered representative of the larger universe of all firearms used by criminals, or any subset of that universe.”

ATF also noted in a 2000 report that firearms tracing usually stops at the first retail sale of the firearm.

“This report puts Canada and the Great Lakes Region on the radar as a hotspot for trafficked firearms,” Canadian lawyer Paul Miller said in the release. “We have seen the devastating injuries and harm that gun violence causes families in Canada. Cross-border conversations about this pipeline help us develop strategies to hold those responsible accountable.”

In 2022, Canada passed legislation known as C-21 that banned modern semiautomatic firearms and implemented a “freeze” on handguns, including a plan to launch an Australian-style “buy back” of the banned rifles and shotguns.

GAGV’s site states that it is registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act as representing Mexico and the Bahamas.