On Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed several gun laws in California, but the one that has gotten the most attention is a bill that lets Californians sue irresponsible gun manufacturers or distributors. Among other features, it also provides incentives to manufacturers for putting in certain safety features.
This particular law sets standards for safety that must be met. As an L.A. Times article notes, "The point is to impose the same sort of liability on the firearms industry that other manufacturers and retailers routinely face." A major issue that the law hopes to address concerns a study done in 2000 by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives. That report found that “almost 90% of the firearms recovered by law enforcement officials were traced back to 7% of gun dealers and pawnbrokers.” (The reason there isn’t more-recent data is because a 2003 federal law bars the federal government from sharing these statistics with the public. Guess which party got that passed? The only clue I’ll give is that it isn’t the Democrats.) As a result of this, one of the most important goals of the law to put in safeguards for manufacturers who supply this very small percentage of dealers responsible for selling almost all the guns used in crimes. For instance, the law sets a new “standards of conduct” for companies who manufacture and guns, ammunition, and accessories in California. Companies will now have create “reasonable controls” to guard against improper sales, like those to straw purchasers (people who buy a guy for someone else who in unable to legally buy a gun themselves, a federal crime of up to 10 years in prison), gun traffickers and people who present a ‘substantial risk’ of using the product unlawfully. The law also prohibits the manufacture, marketing, importation or sale of guns that are “abnormally dangerous,” which are those so deadly that they go beyond their “inherent capacity to cause injury or lethal harm.” And which have “features that render the product most suitable for assaultive purposes” rather than hunting or self-protection.” This includes designing or marketing such products targeted towards minors – as well as promote being converted into automatic weapons. I'm sure this law (and the others passed by the state) will be tested in court, but for now it's state law. I'm equally sure they wrote it with this Supreme Court in mind. So, we'll see... But it's all to create a law that allows people to sue gun manufacturers who behave irresponsibly, just the same as all business who behave irresponsibly can be sued. The article notes that gun-rights advocates “say it would lead manufacturers to stop doing business in California.” I’m going to guess that in today's society, especially in California, isn’t a great argument against the law.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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