Washington, D.C. — Federal law grants broad immunity from liability to gun manufacturers and dealers in federal and state courts, shielding the gun industry from nearly all legitimate civil lawsuits. The law that grants the gun industry this immunity is known as the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, or PLCAA, and was introduced at the behest of the gun industry and passed in 2005 with the overwhelming support of the gun lobby. The lack of legal repercussions for the gun industry has had a chilling effect on incentives to improve gun safety and selling practices.
The Center for American Progress has released a fact sheet today exploring the ways in which PLCAA has made the gun industry less responsive to the safety needs of Americans and how this dangerous and unprecedented legal immunity allows for negligent sellers to put guns in the hands of bad actors.
“The gun industry enjoys immunity from lawsuits on a scale rarely seen in the United States,” said Chelsea Parsons, Vice President, Guns and Crime Policy at CAP. “Aside from a few very narrow exceptions, the gun industry has almost complete protection from legitimate civil lawsuits and this has given them little incentive to change practices that damage public safety or police bad actors within their industry. A full repeal of the law is necessary if we want to shift the balance away from protecting commercial interests over the safety of the American people.”
The fact sheet features real-world cases where PCLAA was used to stifle legitimate civil lawsuits—almost universally before those cases reached a jury. In fact, since its signing, only two civil cases against the gun industry have survived PLCAA and gone to trial. Seventy-two percent of Americans and 67 percent of gun owner support allowing cities to sue gun dealers when there is strong evidence that a dealer’s carelessness allowed criminals to obtain guns.
Click here to read the fact sheet.
For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, contact Tom Caiazza at [email protected] or 202.481.7141.