|
You might recall a few months back when I wrote about a dangerous lawsuit that had recently resurfaced in Connecticut:
According to the Washington Post, “Gun-maker Remington can be sued over how it marketed the rifle used to kill 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, a divided Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Thursday.”
If this story sounds familiar, you’re probably recalling how, back in April 2016, Connecticut Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis ruled to allow the same wrongful death suit to move forward, rejecting the “argument that a 2005 federal law can protect gun businesses from civil lawsuits.”
That federal law, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), “protects firearms manufacturers and dealers from being held liable when crimes have been committed with their products. However, both manufacturers and dealers can still be held liable for damages resulting from defective products, breach of contract, criminal misconduct and other actions for which they are directly responsible,” GovTrack.us explains.
Now, NPR.org reports that this past Tuesday, House and Senate Democrats introduced the Equal Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act, which “aims to repeal federal protections blocking firearms and ammunition manufacturers, dealers and trade groups from most civil lawsuits when a firearm is used unlawfully or in a crime.” The bill’s co-sponsors, Rep. Adam Schiff and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, claim the reintroduced legislation “will allow victims of gun violence to have their day in court.”
According to a one-page background document found on Rep. Schiff’s website, “The Equal Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act will repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. It will allow civil cases to go forward against irresponsible actors in state and federal courts, just as they would if they involved any other product. Letting courts hear these cases would provide victims of gun violence their day in court. Additionally, the bill would incentivize responsible business practices that would reduce gun injuries and deaths.”
Of course, the bill has been lauded by such anti-gun groups as Moms Demand Action, March for Our Lives and the Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence, all of whom have bought into Rep. Schiff’s claims that the legislation has the power to “‘correct the error Congress made’ nearly a decade and a half ago.” [NPR]
National Shooting Sports Foundation Senior Vice President and General Counsel Larry Keane “told NPR his organization ‘will certainly oppose this legislation.’ He called the bill to repeal PLCAA ‘fundamentally unfair.’ … ‘You would no more charge or blame Ford or General Motors for drunk driving accidents,’ Keane said, adding that the current law is ‘working exactly how Congress intended it.'”
Also according to NPR, “Keane and other supporters of the current law say it was passed as a way to ensure that manufacturers, dealers and distributors had protections from … ‘frivolous’ lawsuits intended to bankrupt the gun industry.”
Bearing Arms calls the ongoing anti-gun effort an attempt to “either destroy the Second Amendment or to make it worthless.” After all, they claim, “The right to keep and bear arms means little if you don’t have access to arms in the first place.”
I don’t expect the legislation to gain much traction, but as BA rightly notes, “That doesn’t mean we don’t need to fight it and fight it hard.”
Take Care and Stay Safe,
Tim Schmidt
Publisher – Concealed Carry Report
USCCA Founder
P.S. – Been thinking about joining more than 300,000 responsibly armed Americans who enjoy complete peace of mind? Activate your USCCA Membership today to be instantly protected, and I’ll enter you to win a Kimber 1911 Compact Stainless II, a Springfield Armory 1911 EMP, a Glock 17, a Kimber Ultra CDP AND a Springfield Armory SAINT AR-15 Pistol – 5.56, valued at a whopping $5,044! |
