Posted on 05/07/2021 4:10:13 AM PDT by Kaslin
resident Joe Biden has the firearms industry in his crosshairs.
During his Rose Garden address last month, Biden reaffirmed his support for repealing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCCA) of 2005.
“This is the only outfit that is exempt from being sued. If I get one thing on my list — (if) the Lord came down and said, 'Joe, you get one of these' — give me that one," Biden said. "Most people don’t realize, the only industry in America, billion-dollar industry, that can’t be sued, exempt from being sued, are gun manufacturers.”
Biden’s hostility to this industry, however, isn’t new.
As a U.S. Senator, he voted against the PLCAA. Biden’s campaign listed repeal of the law as a top priority, stating, “This law protects these manufacturers from being held civilly liable for their products – a protection granted to no other industry. Biden will prioritize repealing this protection.”
If Biden’s administration succeeds in doing away with PLCAA, it’ll incur massive problems for lawful commerce of firearms and undermine Second Amendment rights.
What is the PLCAA?
The bipartisan Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act became law on October 26, 2005. It passed the U.S. Senate 65-34 with four abstentions. In the House of Representatives, it passed 283-144 with six abstentions.
The law prohibits “civil liability actions from being brought or continued against manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or importers of firearms or ammunition for damages, injunctive or other relief resulting from the misuse of their products by others.”
Supporters argue repeal would undermine Second Amendment rights in this nation.
The CATO Institute explained exorbitant costs resulting from frivolous lawsuits pre-PLCAA ran “gun makers and sellers out of business” through “litigation-induced bankruptcy practices”—aimed directly at restricting constitutionally-protected gun rights.
In contrast, the bill’s opponents support full repeal—claiming manufacturers intentionally make products that endanger lives.
Gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety believes the law “blocks legal responsibility for gun manufacturers that have failed to innovate and make guns safer.” Another gun rights foe, Giffords, claims it “shields the gun industry from nearly all civil liability for the dangers their products pose.”
Do Gun Manufacturers Enjoy Blanket Immunity Protections? Fake News
President Biden insists the firearms industry enjoys blanket protections against lawsuits. Legal experts disagree.
“Do gun manufacturers really have blanket immunity from lawsuits? No, not even close,” wrote Williams Mullens, a Richmond, Virginia-based law firm.
“Under the act, firearm manufacturers and sellers are subject to liability for any product defects, such as when a firearm backfires or explodes in a user’s hand, and certain other violations of law, such as making illegal sales,” wrote Victor Schwartz, chairman of the Public Policy Group at Shook, Hardy & Bacon. “The act essentially treats firearm manufacturers and sellers like other makers and sellers by codifying bedrock principles of liability law.”
Schwartz expanded:
The notion that only the firearms industry enjoys such protection is also incorrect. Several other industries that have been threatened with potentially crushing civil liability are protected by qualified civil immunity laws. For example, the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994 bars lawsuits involving general aviation aircraft and products that are more than 18 years old, the Biomaterials Access Assurance Act of 1998 bars lawsuits against suppliers of chemical components and raw materials used in medical devices, and the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act of 2005 protects vaccine manufacturers from liability exposure in the event of a declared public health emergency.
Legal scholar Jonathan Turley similarly argued undoing the law would open the door to frivolous lawsuits.
“The bill saved the industry some litigation costs, but the industry would have prevailed in such actions anyway if they were tried,” wrote Turley. “Product liability and tort actions against manufacturers have uniformly and correctly been rejected by the courts. Guns are lawful products, and holding companies liable for later misuse of such products is absurd. You might as well sue an axe manufacturer for the Lizzy Borden murders.”
The Industry Responds
Firearms manufacturers and related trade associations are definitely on alert.
BPI Outdoors CEO Nate Treadaway is very concerned about possible repeal of PLCAA, as it would undermine companies like his who engage in lawful commerce. BPI oversees CVA (a popular muzzleloader brand) and Bergara Rifles.
“We've been actually watching it very carefully and talking through it,” Treadaway told Townhall.com in a phone interview. “If that law were to be revoked and we had that liability opened back up to us, I do think it would put a hamper on some of the innovation that we're seeing.”
“I also think that it would cause prices to go up because people are going to be prepared to pay higher liability on frivolous cases,” he added. “It's one more tool of the opposition party to try to keep us from doing what we're lawfully allowed to do.”
National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the leading firearms industry trade association, agrees.
“PLCAA does nothing more than codify tort law,” said Mark Oliva, NSSF’s director of public affairs. “The law simply prevents lawsuits against manufacturers for the criminal misuse by third party. It’s just like saying you can’t sue Ford for the deaths caused by drunk drivers.”
Oliva also warned, “Should PLCAA be repealed, it would have dramatic reverberations outside of the firearm industry.”
Conclusion
According to recent data, the firearms industry employs over 342,000 Americans and has a $63.5 billion economic impact.
How would killing off this industry do our country any good? It wouldn’t.
Firearms industry workers are people too, Mr. President. Shame on you for defaming this economic sector and its hardworking, law-abiding employees.
Make the SS give up its guns.
If we have a 2nd amendment Right to Bear Arms, then gun manufactures sure as hell have a 2nd amendment right to supply the arms we bear.
Let Joe do his worst, I expect to see the 2nd amendment expant to protect the right of gun manufacturesrs to engage in their industry.
The 2nd amendment does NOT say we have the right to bear arms IF WE CAN FIND ONE.
Same with ammo manufacturing. We do not have the right to bear arms , if we can afford ammo, No federal
taxation of ammo allowed!
I'm old enough to remember when The Gabster got a PuddinPopobotomy that reduced her cognitive skills to below the level of "Droolin' Joe", POTATUS.
Biden’s Democrat mobs must not be threatened.
Wait, I thought the pharma companies cannot be sued for China virus vaccine complications.
Sleepy, you are right about one thing - God will come down for you with a list and then you’ll shortly thereafter be six feet under and touring your new permanent home in hell.
Repeal of PLCAA guarantees the explosion of 3D printing tech.
Most people don’t realize, the only industry in America, billion-dollar industry, that can’t be sued, exempt from being sued, are gun manufacturers.”
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Bullstuffins.
But we all already know biden is a liar. What do you excpect with a buron in the white hut?
You can’t sue a car manufacturer if a drunk uses one to run you over and kill your 7 year old daughter.
I can’t sue Fender if my guitar amp shocks me. The guitar strings have poked holes in my fingers many, many times, and I can’t get a penny out of Fender for it, or Peavey, or Ibanez, or Washburn, or Cort, or Takamine or the string manufacturers Dean Markley, D’Addario or DDR.
A friend dropped a heavy IBM keyboard on his foot, cracked bones in the arch of his foot, and nope, he couldn’t sue IBM and get one red cent for it.
My uncle got his finger caught in the fan belt of a 50’s Ford 8N tractor, mangled the fingertip and left him with a small piece of a fingernail the size of a pencil eraser. (before I was born) Nope, not a chance he could sue. Of course they didn’t even consider it, they knew it was his own carelessmness that got his finger caught in a fan belt. So what were you doing putting your finger in there, dumbass?.
But I guess biden’s gotta biden...these idiots are going to go after guns, ammo and manufacturers any way they can think of.
Let’s not forget, biden is revamping Operation Choke Point, started by stompy feet just a few years ago, to try and shut down businesses they don’t like, such as gun stores, pawn shops and payday loan operations for starters.
On a related issue, I just read an article yesterday that said the Texas senate just voted 18-13 to pass a constitutional carry bill. If I read it correctly, now it has to go back to a house committee to get their okey dokey on amendments by the senate, then Abbott signs it. So Texas is joining the states making it harder for liberals to kill the 2nd amendment. I think Abbott already signed a bill making Texas a 2nd Amendment Sanctuary state.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/05/yes-to-permitless-carry-in-texas/
Most of the articles I read said that most voters in Texas don’t want permitless carry. What they don’t tell you is that it’s a University of Texas poll, most likely done in Austin, most liberal few acres in Texas. Go to rural areas like where I live, it’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t have a couple of guns. Most of them already carry in the car or a purse.
Concealed carry in your car is already legal, without a permit, provided you are the legal owner of both handgun and vehicle, and the handgun is concealed. Mine stays in the console, covered. Long guns are legal to carry in a vehicle period, as long as you can legally own it you can leave it in the gun rack if you want to. I carried a 22 rifle in my truck for 20 years, in a gun rack. Cops stopped me and wrote me tickets or warning, never said a word about the 22 rifle. Concealed, or open, handgun carry on your person currently requires a state permit, which includes training course and range qualification. Leave it n the car and it’s legal without a permit.
What about auto manufacturers, knife companies, and baseball bat manufacturers?
Biden does not currently have the sense to set his sights on anything. Biden is the front man of the evil that is attacking our nation. When these evil forces are finished using Biden to hide behind, then Biden will be replaced, and if there is a price to pay, it will be Biden that gets the blame. Yep, blame it all on Biden. Isn’t that what the Biden forces are trying to do now—blame all of their failures on Trump
Good luck Joe or whoever you are pretending to be Joe. 😏
It would be ironic if these gun and ammunition manufacturers cancel their government contracts.
Both the Army and Marines are looking to replace the M16, M4, and M249.
Met a couple of good Catholic boys from New York the other day. They said, “We love guns. We just can’t get them.”
Thats an increasing problem. More people want to purchase firearms than the distributors can supply. The choke poimnts are often put in place by lefty controlled state governments.
Red States generally do not have the problem......yet.
The manufacturers are still workining to capacity.
But certain popular guns are sold even before they are made, you have to order one and wait.
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