A Second Circuit panel yesterday affirmed the enforceability of a New York law that imposes liability for gun industry members who knowingly or recklessly endanger the safety or health of the public in New York through their sale or marketing of firearms. Via Courthouse News:
Passed in 2021, the law set up a framework of accountability for the gun industry, setting a requirement for firearms companies that sell guns into New York to put safeguards in place to address straw purchasing, gun trafficking and theft.
A firearms arms industry group claimed on appeal that the law was preempted by federal protections for gunmakers, but the three-judge Second Circuit panel concluded “the law falls within [the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act]’s predicate exception clause and thus is not preempted.”
Gun control advocates celebrated the Second Circuit’s ruling as a “bellwether for other challenges to similar laws across the country.”
Eric Tirschwell, executive director of the legal arm of the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, celebrated the ruling as an affirmation that “no one is above the law,” echoing a phrase often reprised by New York Attorney General Letitia James.