California Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta backed the Mexican government in their lawsuit against American firearm manufacturers to accuse them of enabling violence in Mexico.

Mexican authorities filed a lawsuit against Smith and Wesson, Beretta, Glock, and other firearm makers, claiming that they should be held liable for violence in the country at the hands of cartels. Bonta and sixteen other Democratic state attorneys general filed an amicus brief this month in the Supreme Court that asked members not to shield the companies from the lawsuit.

Bonta said in a statement that companies should be “held accountable when they violate the law” and asserted that “manufacturers and distributors of firearms who threaten the safety of our communities are no exception.” The official added that federal law does not provide “gun manufacturers and distributors a free pass to create and distribute weapons they know are being trafficked and used to terrorize communities, in both Mexico and the United States.”

Mexico indeed alleged in their lawsuit that the firearm makers are aware their weapons are trafficked into Mexico to enable crime, meaning that the companies “knowingly violated laws applicable to the sale or marketing of firearms,” according to the statement from Bonta.

The amicus brief asserted that federal law protecting firearm manufacturers from civil lawsuits does not “bar all claims against gun industry members where independent criminal conduct occurred,” instead contending that “Congress intended to bar only those lawsuits seeking to hold manufacturers and sellers liable for blameless conduct” when writing the legislation.

Second Amendment advocacy organizations have said that the Supreme Court should not acknowledge the argument from Mexico, pointing to lackluster law enforcement in the country.

One amicus brief previously filed by the National Association for Gun Rights about the case indeed observed that Mexico has failed to address “public corruption” in their nation, as well as “cartels and organized crime,” enabling the trafficking of firearms. Mexico is a signatory of the United Nations Small Arms Treaty and has largely prohibited firearm ownership among civilians.

“Rather than addressing the root causes of this violence at home, Mexico seeks to cast blame elsewhere,” the amicus brief from the organization said. “Mexico brought this action seeking to hold American arms manufacturers accountable for its own domestic policy failures.”