Fred Guttenberg harsh words for Bernie

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32. NRA: PLCAA is the most signigicant Piece of pro-gun legislation in 20 years

What is PLCAA?

In the late 1990s, more than 40 cities filed suit against the gun industry, naming dozens of gun manufacturers, distributors, and dealers as defendants. American cities had seen incredible violence in the previous decades, much of it involving handguns and connected to drug crime. City governments wanted redress, and legal victories in suits against the tobacco industry signalled that an avenue to reform might pass through the courts.

So they sued. The cases were aggressive, arguing that the entire industry should acknowledge responsibility for thousands of deaths each year. Fearing widespread reform, the National Rifle Association and the National Shooting Sports Foundation — the industry’s chief lobbying forces — launched an aggressive campaign to convince gun-friendly legislators to do something. Senator Larry Craig of Idaho and Representative Cliff Stearns of Florida, both Republicans, responded by proposing a piece of legislation that would end all pending litigation and prevent any future attempts. The NRA called it “the most significant piece of pro-gun legislation in 20 years.” It moved from introduction to President George W. Bush’s desk in eight months.

In October 2005, Bush signed PLCAA into law. It blocked any lawsuit seeking damages from the industry for the unlawful use of a gun.

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What is uncommon about PLCAA, however, is that it provides blanket immunity to an industry, as opposed to some specific industry conduct. Never before had Congress granted a single industry such extensive legal protection — nor has it done so since.

The tobacco, automotive, and pharmaceutical industries, for example, have all faced lawsuits alleging that their products caused irreparable harm to the general public. In each instance, legal battles have triggered significant industry-wide changes.

“I don’t think in the legal world the PLCAA is looked on as just regular legislation,” said Jake Charles, executive director of Duke University's Center for Firearms Law. Proponents of PLCAA weren’t taking a stance on legal theory or saying that product liability laws needed an overhaul.

Rather, they were building a legal shelter to exempt an industry from laws they otherwise acknowledged function appropriately. “It does seem designed to protect the gun industry in particular,” he added.

https://www.thetrace.org/2020/01/gun-industry-legal-immunity-plcaa/