Senate Passes Reform to Stop ‘Junk’ Lawsuits

Just prior to this issue going to press, Congress took a major step toward restoring fairness and integrity to the nation’s judicial system, as the Senate passed a landmark bill to block lawsuits that seek to hold firearms manufacturers liable for the criminal misuse of their lawfully sold products. The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (S. 397) will prevent wrongful civil-liability lawsuits against law-abiding companies and end years of abuse of America’s legal system by anti-gun-industry forces.

The bill was passed by a bipartisan vote of 65-31. A House of Representatives version (HR 800) has 257 co-sponsors and is expected to quickly pass. President Bush, who has promoted legal reform in order to protect America’s economy, has said he would sign the bill if it reached his desk. Since 1998 more than 30 municipal lawsuits have been filed against the makers and sellers of firearms by anti-gun organizations and anti-gun politicians.

The misguided efforts attempted to blame firearm companies for the illegal actions of criminals—the equivalent of attempting to hold a car manufacturer liable when a criminal uses an automobile in a crime. These illegitimate suits have cost the firearms industry hundreds of millions of dollars in legal defense fees and threatened to bankrupt companies. "This legislation restores and reaffirms the common-sense notion that no manufacturer should be held liable for the criminal misuse of its products.

We are pleased that the Senate has passed this important reform measure. No industry should be threatened by "junk" lawsuits based, not on established legal principles, but driven by extreme political agendas," said Doug Painter, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association representing firearms and ammunition manufacturers.

The bill provides protection for manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and importers of all legally sold firearms and ammunition. "These lawsuits put thousands of jobs at risk and attempted to drive an entire industry out of business. Such abuse of our judicial system invited this historic legal reform," said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF’s senior vice president and general counsel.

Realizing that any industry, not just the firearms industry, could be the target of such harassing lawsuits, America’s business community weighed in strongly for the bill, with letters of support coming from the National Association of Manufacturers, U. S. Chamber of Commerce, National Federation of Independent Businesses, National Association of Wholesalers-Distributors, National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers, United Mine Workers of America, and other business groups and unions.

The Department of Defense also encouraged passage of the bill because of national-security concerns. Editor Keith Lawrence Technical