Dems looking to expose gun makers to liability claims
If you can't go after the guns, go after the people who make them.
House Democrats on Tuesday proposed legislation that would ease current law to allow people to file civil law suits against gun manufacturers and others in the industry when they act irresponsibly.
The Equal Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act, from Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), would amend the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA). According to Schiff, that 2005 law gives gun manufacturers, distributors and gun dealers immunity from most civil negligence and product liability actions.
Schiff said his bill is needed to allow suits to go forward when these entities are found to be negligent, or for product liability issues.
"Numerous cases around the nation have been dismissed on the basis of PLCAA even when the gun dealers acted in a fashion that would qualify as negligent if it involved any other product," Schiff said in a letter to House colleagues seeking support for his bill. "The victims in these cases are denied the right to even discover and introduce evidence of negligence.
"My bill will reinstate the intent of PLCAA, allowing civil cases to go forward against irresponsible actors," he added. "Letting courts hear these cases would provide justice to victims while creating incentives for responsible business practices that would reduce injuries and deaths. At the same time, my bill will provide protection for gun companies who are sued when they do not act negligently, which was the purpose of PLCAA."
Schiff added that current law only protects the "worst actors in the industry," and said that "good gun companies don't need special protection from the law; bad companies don't deserve it."
Ah yes - the old "good gun company/bad gun company" distinction. Good and bad being defined by Democrats, of course. No details on what would constitute a "bad" gun company, or even a negligent one. The purpose of the PLCAA was to prevent morons like Mayor Bloomberg and former Chicago Mayor Daley of attempting to bankrupt gun manufacturers by holding them liable for gun deaths. You wouldn't hold knife manufacturers responsible for people who died of a stabbing. But no one is out to destroy jnife manufacturers while Democrats believe they can solve the problem of gun violence by disappearing those who make them.
This bill isn't going anywhere, but it shows the mindset of the gun control lobby.