[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1806 Placed on Calendar Senate (PCS)]
Calendar No. 364
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1806
To prohibit civil liability actions from being brought or continued
against manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or importers of firearms
or ammunition for damages resulting from the misuse of their products
by others.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
October 31, 2003
Mr. Craig introduced the following bill; which was read the first time
November 3, 2003
Read the second time and placed on the calendar
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit civil liability actions from being brought or continued
against manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or importers of firearms
or ammunition for damages resulting from the misuse of their products
by others.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Protection of Lawful Commerce in
Arms Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES.
(a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
(1) Citizens have a right, protected by the Second
Amendment to the United States Constitution, to keep and bear
arms.
(2) Lawsuits have been commenced against manufacturers,
distributors, dealers, and importers of firearms that operate
as designed and intended, which seek money damages and other
relief for the harm caused by the misuse of firearms by third
parties, including criminals.
(3) The manufacture, importation, possession, sale, and use
of firearms and ammunition in the United States are heavily
regulated by Federal, State, and local laws. Such Federal laws
include the Gun Control Act of 1968, the National Firearms Act,
and the Arms Export Control Act.
(4) Businesses in the United States that are engaged in
interstate and foreign commerce through the lawful design,
manufacture, marketing, distribution, importation, or sale to
the public of firearms or ammunition that has been shipped or
transported in interstate or foreign commerce are not, and
should not, be liable for the harm caused by those who
criminally or unlawfully misuse firearm products or ammunition
products that function as designed and intended.
(5) The possibility of imposing liability on an entire
industry for harm that is solely caused by others is an abuse
of the legal system, erodes public confidence in our Nation's
laws, threatens the diminution of a basic constitutional right
and civil liberty, invites the disassembly and destabilization
of other industries and economic sectors lawfully competing in
the free enterprise system of the United States, and
constitutes an unreasonable burden on interstate and foreign
commerce of the United States.
(6) The liability actions commenced or contemplated by the
Federal Government, States, municipalities, and private
interest groups are based on theories without foundation in
hundreds of years of the common law and jurisprudence of the
United States and do not represent a bona fide expansion of the
common law. The possible sustaining of these actions by a
maverick judicial officer or petit jury would expand civil
liability in a manner never contemplated by the framers of the
Constitution, by Congress, or by the legislatures of the
several States. Such an expansion of liability would constitute
a deprivation of the rights, privileges, and immunities
guaranteed to a citizen of the United States under the
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
(b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are as follows:
(1) To prohibit causes of action against manufacturers,
distributors, dealers, and importers of firearms or ammunition
products for the harm caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse
of firearm products or ammunition products by others when the
product functioned as designed and intended.
(2) To preserve a citizen's access to a supply of firearms
and ammunition for all lawful purposes, including hunting,
self-defense, collecting, and competitive or recreational
shooting.
(3) To guarantee a citizen's rights, privileges, and
immunities, as applied to the States, under the Fourteenth
Amendment to the United States Constitution, pursuant to
section 5 of that Amendment.
(4) To prevent the use of such lawsuits to impose
unreasonable burdens on interstate and foreign commerce.
(5) To protect the right, under the First Amendment to the
Constitution, of manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and
importers of firearms or ammunition products, and trade
associations, to speak freely, to assemble peaceably, and to
petition the Government for a redress of their grievances.
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON BRINGING OF QUALIFIED CIVIL LIABILITY ACTIONS IN
FEDERAL OR STATE COURT.
(a) In General.--A qualified civil liability action may not be
brought in any Federal or State court.
(b) Dismissal of Pending Actions.--A qualified civil liability
action that is pending on the date of enactment of this Act shall be
immediately dismissed by the court in which the action was brought.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) Engaged in the business.--The term ``engaged in the
business'' has the meaning given that term in section
921(a)(21) of title 18, United States Code, and, as applied to
a seller of ammunition, means a person who devotes, time,
attention, and labor to the sale of ammunition as a regular
course of trade or business with the principal objective of
livelihood and profit through the sale or distribution of
ammunition.
(2) Manufacturer.--The term ``manufacturer'' means, with
respect to a qualified product, a person who is engaged in the
business of manufacturing the product in interstate or foreign
commerce and who is licensed to engage in business as such a
manufacturer under chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code.
(3) Person.--The term ``person'' means any individual,
corporation, company, association, firm, partnership, society,
joint stock company, or any other entity, including any
governmental entity.
(4) Qualified product.--The term ``qualified product''
means a firearm (as defined in subparagraph (A) or (B) of
section 921(a)(3) of title 18, United States Code), including
any antique firearm (as defined in section 921(a)(16) of such
title), or ammunition (as defined in section 921(a)(17) of such
title), or a component part of a firearm or ammunition, that
has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign
commerce.
(5) Qualified civil liability action.--
(A) In general.--The term ``qualified civil
liability action'' means a civil action brought by any
person against a manufacturer or seller of a qualified
product, or a trade association, for damages resulting
from the criminal or unlawful misuse of a qualified
product by the person or a third party, but shall not
include--
(i) an action brought against a transferor
convicted under section 924(h) of title 18,
United States Code, or a comparable or
identical State felony law, by a party directly
harmed by the conduct of which the transferee
is so convicted;
(ii) an action brought against a seller for
negligent entrustment or negligence per se;
(iii) an action in which a manufacturer or
seller of a qualified product knowingly and
willfully violated a State or Federal statute
applicable to the sale or marketing of the
product, and the violation was a proximate
cause of the harm for which relief is sought;
(iv) an action for breach of contract or
warranty in connection with the purchase of the
product; or
(v) an action for physical injuries or
property damage resulting directly from a
defect in design or manufacture of the product,
when used as intended.
(B) Negligent entrustment.--In subparagraph
(A)(ii), the term ``negligent entrustment'' means the
supplying of a qualified product by a seller for use by
another person when the seller knows, or should know,
the person to whom the product is supplied is likely
to, and does, use the product in a manner involving
unreasonable risk of physical injury to the person and
others.
(6) Seller.--The term ``seller'' means, with respect to a
qualified product--
(A) an importer (as defined in section 921(a)(9) of
title 18, United States Code) who is engaged in the
business as such an importer in interstate or foreign
commerce and who is licensed to engage in business as
such an importer under chapter 44 of title 18, United
States Code;
(B) a dealer (as defined in section 921(a)(11) of
title 18, United States Code) who is engaged in the
business as such a dealer in interstate or foreign
commerce and who is licensed to engage in business as
such a dealer under chapter 44 of title 18, United
States Code; or
(C) a person engaged in the business of selling
ammunition (as defined in section 921(a)(17) of title
18, United States Code) in interstate or foreign
commerce at the wholesale or retail level, consistent
with Federal, State, and local law.
(7) State.--The term ``State'' includes each of the several
States of the United States, the District of Columbia, the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American
Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,
and any other territory or possession of the United States, and
any political subdivision of any such place.
(8) Trade association.--The term ``trade association''
means any association or business organization (whether or not
incorporated under Federal or State law) that is not operated
for profit, and 2 or more members of which are manufacturers or
sellers of a qualified product.
Calendar No. 364
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1806
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit civil liability actions from being brought or continued
against manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or importers of firearms
or ammunition for damages resulting from the misuse of their products
by others.
_______________________________________________________________________
November 3, 2003
Read the second time and placed on the calendar
Introduced in Senate
Introduced in the Senate. Read the first time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under Read the First Time.
Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 364.
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