Some of the Gungeoneers will be surprised to find that the VPC

[gejohnston]

13. they are not

They are civilly liable if the gun is defective as in if you are at the range and the revolver's cylinder isn't aligned with the barrel or it goes off if you when you put the safety on. What is banned, is someone suing, say Ruger, if someone gets a Ruger pistol illegally and commits a crime with it.
That said, Ruger could be liable, like Kahr Arms a few years ago, could be held liable if the crime gun was obtained due to poor security at the Ruger plant. In Kahr's case, it was a prohibited person working on the factory floor who managed to smuggle the gun out.

A LGS in my area refuses to carry anything by NAA because they got sued by a guy that didn't read the instructions to place the hammer in one of the notches between chambers or rest it on an empty chamber. Because of this, the LGS got stuck with the hospital bill.