ADWA ACTION ALERT

Join Our Online Community Receive action alerts, tips, news and special offers via e-mail.

NYC Lawsuit Against Gun Makers Misfires at Supreme Court

Nine years of litigation ended today as the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear New York City’s request to continue a lawsuit that sought to hold firearms manufacturers responsible for the criminal misuse of firearms.

In 2000, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani filed the original lawsuit against several gun manufacturers and the suit was continued by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. A federal judge threw out the lawsuit after the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act was passed by Congress in 2005, and the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later upheld that decision in April 2008, declaring that federal law protected the manufacturers from such suits.

According to the law, most suits against firearms industry are banned, however, there is a narrow exception that allows suits when a gun maker or dealer has knowingly violated state or federal statutes in their sales and marketing practices — by knowingly selling a weapon to someone who fails a criminal background check, for example.

Ultimately, New York appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but today the court refused the case without public comment.

Beretta USA Corp., Smith & Wesson Holding Corp., Colt's Manufacturing Co. LLC, Sturm, Ruger & Co. and Glock GmbH were among the manufacturers sued in the case.

"We are very pleased by today's ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court to not review lower appellate court rulings that dismissed cases based on the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act," said Steve Sanetti, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, trade association for the firearms industry. "These baseless lawsuits against responsible, law-abiding companies are the type that Congress intended to prevent by passing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act."