A gun rights group has lost a bid to block a Washington state law that imposes liability on firearms manufacturers for crimes committed with their products.
A federal judge in Washington state rejected a gun rights group’s challenge of a new regulation that opens firearm manufacturers to lawsuits for crimes committed with their products.
U.S. District Court Judge Mary Dimke on March 8 dismissed a lawsuit against Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson brought by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), which sought to prevent Senate Bill 5078 from taking effect.
The bill, known as the Firearm Industry Responsibility & Gun Violence Victims’ Access to Justice Act, imposes state-level legal liability on Washington’s firearms industry, allowing lawsuits to be brought on behalf of people who are killed or injured with the industry’s products.
The measure also opens firearms makers and sellers to legal liability if they fail to establish, implement, and enforce “reasonable controls” in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of firearms.
SB 5078 was signed by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on April 25, 2023, with the NSSF filing its lawsuit on the same day.
The measure faced opposition from the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), which argued that the legislation would subject licensed firearm manufacturers and sellers to frivolous lawsuits and kill thousands of jobs in the state.
The Lawsuit
The NSSF’s lawsuit against Mr. Ferguson challenged the constitutionality of SB 5078, arguing that it imposed “sweeping liability” on gun makers and distributors, opening them up to lawsuits that amount to “unconstitutional efforts to stamp out lawful and constitutionally protected activity.”
The group also argued that the law would allow the bypassing of the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which gives gun-makers and dealers immunity from civil suits for crimes committed with firearms that they manufacture or sell.
“Washington is now trying to resurrect the very kinds of lawsuits that the PLCAA was enacted to eliminate,” the group stated in its complaint.
Congress invited states to regulate firearm sales and marketing practices by creating state-level laws that establish exceptions to the PLCAA, with SB 5078 being such a law.
Seeks to Sue Gun Industry ‘Out of Existence’
In expressing its opposition to the law, the NRA-ILA said in a statement that the bill “simply seeks to sue the firearms industry out of existence in the state of Washington.”
By Tom Ozimek
