Sandy Hook Families Just Proved Congress Lied to Pass One of the NRA's Favorite Bills

[flamin lib]

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/03/sandy-hook-lawsuit-nra-plcaa-bushmaster-immunity.html

In a stunning setback for the gun industry, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that the families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims could proceed toward trial with their lawsuit against Bushmaster . . .
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Whereas other courts had rendered PLCAA the death knell of lawsuits by gun violence victims, the Connecticut court found that the Sandy Hook suit could proceed under a broad interpretation of one of the exceptions to legal immunity in PLCAA . . .
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One conclusion is undeniable from the court’s discussion: PLCAA was based on a lie.

The lie was that Congress needed to protect gun-makers from a series of predatory lawsuits, primarily brought by cities and urban counties, that sought to hold companies liable for the damages inflicted on their communities whenever guns are used in crime. Supporters of PLCAA asserted that these lawsuits were not supported by any recognized, valid legal principles, but rather asserted novel theories with no basis in existing law. Thus, as the Connecticut Supreme Court put it, during the congressional debates “many legislators either expressly stated or clearly implied that the only actions that would be barred by PLCAA would be ones in which a defendant bore absolutely no responsibility or blame for a plaintiff’s injuries and was, in essence, being held strictly liable for crimes committed with firearms that it had merely produced or distributed.”

One conclusion is undeniable from the court’s discussion: PLCAA was based on a lie. In fact, the series of lawsuits brought by urban jurisdictions, during the years before PLCAA, were based on well-accepted legal doctrines like negligence and public nuisance.

The article is well worth the read. Prior to the PLCAA California passed a similar law but it was repealed immediately after it was used to shield an assault weapon manufacturer for the sale and marketing of a gun to the general public designed for close-quarter combat and promoted for its lethal firepower and “excellent resistance to fingerprints.”

The gun lobby can be defeated and it is going to be.