No, legislation doesn’t shield firearms manufacturers from any legal liability | Opinion
In the aftermath of the deadly shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory rally comes a proposal by Jason Kander, detailed in a recent guest commentary in The Star. The former Missouri secretary of state claims that the Protection of Lawful Commerce In Arms Act violates the Seventh Amendment to the Bill of Rights.
The Protection Act was enacted in 2005 to prevent frivolous lawsuits against gun companies and stores because one of their products was used in a crime. The Seventh Amendment guarantees the right to a trial by jury in lawsuits when the amount in controversy exceeds $20.
I have to wonder whether Kander has read the Protection Act. The law specifically allows that a gun company or shop can be sued. If the gun does not function, if it blows up in your hand, fires when it is not supposed to or is sold negligently or illegally, the company that made it can be sued.
It is not necessary to believe me. Read the statute — 15 U.S. Code Section 7901 is available freely online and at public libraries. Gun companies have been sued. Remington, the oldest gun company in America, was sued into bankruptcy after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting under a claimed loophole in the law. The plaintiffs said that Remington violated advertising regulations. The mass killer used one of the advertised weapons, yet there is no evidence that he saw that specific advertisement. The evidence was that the killer murdered his mother and stole her rifle. The case never went to trial. Costs of litigation drove the company into bankruptcy. The Remington name was purchased by new owners. The insurance company, left without an insured, threw money at the plaintiffs. This only encourages more such lawsuits.
Other companies and small stores have been driven out of business by lawsuits as well. Kansas City sued the small Nevada-based gun company Jimenez Arms into bankruptcy because it accepted forged purchase documents from an illegal dealer.
It is said that gun companies are the only industry so protected. This is not quite true. The firearms industry is the only one that is targeted for lawsuits based on the criminal acts of third parties. It is simply one of the only industries specifically targeted to be driven into bankruptcy by political opponents.
It is unreasonable and counter to the common law to sue a company for the criminal acts of unrelated people. The disgrace is that such a law as the Protection of Lawful Commerce In Arms Act is necessary.
Kevin L. Jamison is an attorney in the Kansas City, Missouri, area concentrating in the area of weapons and self-defense.
