Yesterday Andy Cuomo signed a law that he hopes will help reduce gun violence in New York. When it comes to going after the gun industry, Andy is, without doubt, the strongest and most dedicated public official in the United States. He’s the guy who, in 1999, wrote the agreement that Smith & Wesson signed with the Clinton Administration that almost put S&W out of business. In 2013, he rammed the SAFE ACT through the New York State Legislature which was the toughest gun-control law passed after Sandy Hook.
So now, in response to a startling increase in shootings in New York City, we now have another gun law in New York which responds to “the dangers to safety and health and creation of a public nuisance caused by the sale, manufacturing, distribution, importing and marketing of firearms.” Basically, the law says that any dealer who sells a gun that winds up being used in an act of gun violence will not only be subject to legal sanctions imposed by the state government, but also can be sued by anyone who was damaged by someone else who assaulted them by using that gun. In other words, this law gets around the immunity from personal damages that the gun industry has enjoyed under the Federal PLCCA law and was specifically drafted to avoid being in conflict with the PLCCA law. And by the way, the law clearly states that a dealer who sells a gun which ends up in the ‘wrong hands’ can be held responsible even if this dealer had absolutely no intention of using his business to sell any kind of illegal gun. If I were a dealer in New York State, I’d close my shop down by the end of this week.
And also by the way, the law isn’t just aimed (pardon the pun) at dealers who do business in New York State. It specifically says that anyone engaged in the business anywhere who sells a gun that is used to commit gun violence in New York State can be held liable under this law. Which means that if a dealer in, say, South Carolina, sells a gun to someone who then has the gun stolen and this gun somehow winds up being picked up by the cops in Brooklyn after a shooting of someone on Bushwick Avenue, the dealer in South Carolina can be sued because maybe he didn’t take proper precautions to make sure the gun would always be kept in a safe and proper way.
This new law won’t be on the books two weeks before the gun industry goes into court and tries to get the statute overturned. Because new laws have a way of spreading from state to state and if this version of the ‘Albany flu’ were to be copied in some other Communist state like California, or Illinois, or anywhere else where the blue team rears its ugly head – watch out! Bye-bye guns.
Last week the Commies who rule the city of San Jose passed a law which requires gun-owning residents to carry liability insurance on their guns. The monies would be used to cover the costs of police response to shootings, medical costs of treating gun injuries and even the charges for carrying the wounded to a hospital and the dead victims to the morgue.
Why San Jose? Because recall that on May 26th a guy showed up at the city’s public transportation hub with his trusty assault rifle, shot and killed 9 people and then shot himself.
Remember when every neighborhood had a drug store, a hardware store and even a clothing store? They’re all replaced by chains. What makes this New York State law a threat to the gun industry is the fact that guns are the only consumer item that are still sold in small, independent retail stores. And the owners of these stores don’t have money to hire lawyers if they get sued for selling a ‘crime’ gun.
The New York State gun law could be the start of bye-bye American pie.
Jul 08, 2021 @ 13:38:41
Was wondering what happened to the earlier link.
Here’s hoping the NY law gets the boot from the Judiciary as overly broad and in conflict with the PLCAA. A company selling a lawful product in a lawful manner has no control over what happens to it later. Imagine suing Subaru and Subaru of Santa Fe because Subaru of Santa Fe sells me a car, which I am licensed and insured to drive, but which is stolen out of my driveway after someone breaks into my house and robs the keys and the perp used to hit and kill a pedestrian two towns over.
This is simply another attempt by Cuomo to put the gun manufacturers out of business. Oh, well. The culture wars will continue. And intensify. If there are winners, it won’t be the inner city folks in the Bronx.
Jul 09, 2021 @ 11:32:34
Needed to change the format, that’s all. Text is the same.
Jul 08, 2021 @ 21:22:47
I always knew Cuomo was a sleaze, but this takes the cake. You’re probably right about this kind of law metastasizing to other commie heavy areas. But SCOTUS will probably strike it down along with that gun insurance malarkey in San Jose.
Jul 09, 2021 @ 11:38:34
Don’t hold your breath on SCOTUS. For all the nonsense about how Trump made it into such a conservative court, their decisions have been right down the middle on just about everything.
Jul 09, 2021 @ 13:02:01
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see then. Confiscation nation seem very concerned about SCOTUS which I do find encouraging.
Jul 09, 2021 @ 11:48:47
Court has been centered so far. My guess is they will find a middle ground in the NYS case.
Question is, what will the courts decide on two things regarding this law. One, NYS trying to regulate a lawful product sold in another state and if so, can it? My guess is the precedent would suggest states could prosecute abortion providers in pro-choice states, sue states where pot is legal if it causes a crime in a prohibited state, etc. Two, does this law go so far as to conflict with PLCAA?
Seems to me that the illegal transport of arms across state lines is a Federal issue, perhaps addressed through something like RICO. Or, a case of asking to extradite actual perps who are moving product illegally.
But hey, let the culture wars continue. My guess is this too will be scaled back by the time the dust settles.
Jul 10, 2021 @ 11:36:33
In a seemingly red v. blue gotcha game of turning the legal system into a minefield for partisan purposes on hot button issues, now Texas has created an innovative bill to seemingly deputize activists to sue to prevent abortions. That way there is no government entity to sue as violating the SCOTUS rules on abortion.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/texas-abortion-law-enlists-activists-to-harass-providers.html
Let the culture war games continue!