PLCAA Under Attack

B.L.U.F. H.R.2814 has been passed out of committee and will be voted on in the house shortly. It repeals the PLCAA and has some other nasty in it.

If you have the right to keep and bear arms but nobody will make or sell you arms, does the right still exist?

There are people that want only criminals and the government to have arms. They exist and they have been working at removing guns and other arms from The People for many many years.

Every gun control law starts with “for the good of the people we have to restrict them.”

The first(?) federal attack on gun ownership was the NFA. The congress knew it was unconstitutional to limit the right of the people to keep and bear arms so they made it to expensive to own certain classes of firearms. They then prosecuted people for failure to pay a tax, not for owning an NFA weapon. Over time the penalties increased. An entire new class of NFA items, destructive devices, was added to the NFA.

Today you can’t own an NFA item without government permission unless you are a criminal.

The NFA was augmented with the GCA and other laws over time.

The people of these United States responded with a “hell no” and continued to buy, sell, manufacture guns. More people participate in firearm related sports than ever before. More people own guns for protection than ever before.

In response to Americans refusing to give up their rights, the gun control groups found a new method, “lawfare” Lawfair is using the courts to attack people without an intention of winning the case. “The process is the punishment.” To put it another way, they were going to sue the gun industry, from top to bottom, right out of existence.

What this meant was that gun stores, manufacturers, trainers and anybody else associated with the gun industry was suddenly subject to lawsuits.

Some animal uses a gun he bought to kill a fellow gang banger and the store he bought it from got sued. Some asshole shoots up a school and the manufacturer of the gun used gets sued.

At every point in the supply chain lawsuits were happening.

Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, responded by passing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. The PLCAA, in short, said that you can’t be sued if somebody else uses a gun to commit a crime.

Animal buys gun from FFL and then shoots up a school, he’s responsible, not the FFL. In general cases brought in violation of the PLCAA are dismissed before the prices get out of hand.

That changed after Sandy Hook. The plaintiffs looked for a way around the PLCAA and found one. The manufacturer of the firearm used in the shooting could be sued for their advertisements, not for making or selling the firearm.

The case was settled out of court when the insurance companies paid up rather than fight the case.

A number of states have started adding laws that make it easier to sue FFLs and manufacturers for doing lawful commerce.

Yesterday the House Judiciary Committee voted out H.R. 2814 which would repeal the PLCAA.

Schiff’s Equal Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act co-sponsored by Reps. Dwight Evans (D-Pa.), Jason Crow (D-Colo.), and 70 other House members, would repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act to ensure the gun industry – including manufacturers, sellers, and interest groups – is not shielded from liability when it acts with negligence and disregard for public safety. The bill would allow civil cases to go forward against irresponsible actors in state and federal courts – just as they would if they involved any other product – and give victims of gun violence and their families their day in court. The bill would also incentivize responsible business practices that would reduce gun injuries and deaths.
— Schiff Bill to Repeal Gun Industry Liability Shield Passed Out of Committee