Anticipating a lawsuit against gun industry

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Spectrum News reports:

“State lawmakers passed a law in 2021 that allows the New York state attorney general to sue gun manufacturers if they’re believed to have been negligent and if they may have played a part in gun violence. The law allows the AG to sue manufacturers even if they’re out of state … “All I can say to you is that there’s an ongoing investigation and we are developing some facts,” Attorney General Letitia James said when asked if her office would sue the manufacturer of the gun in the mass shooting last weekend in Buffalo that left 10 people dead and three others injured. “So until such time as we develop a fact pattern and we could identify some specific targets that engaged in negligence, then we will take action.” …”

The bill in question is A-6762B/S-7196. From the Justification statement:

“Virtually every illegal firearm was once legal. Our country is awash with legal and illegal firearms and the People are paying the price in money and misery wrought by the illegal use of legal firearms. This unacceptable situation poses specific harm to New Yorkers based largely on their zip code and certain immutable characteristics such as race and ethnicity. Given the ease with which legal firearms flow into the illegal market — in spite of stringent state and local restrictions — and given the specific harm illegal firearm violence causes certain New Yorkers, those responsible for the sale, manufacture, importing, or marketing of firearms should be held liable for the public nuisance caused by such activities …”

Back to the news report:

“… James says the law requires the state to find a pattern of nuisances in order for a case to carry any weight …”

No, it doesn’t.  From the bill itself:

“… No gun industry member, by conduct either unlawful in itself or unreasonable under all the circumstances shall knowingly or recklessly create, maintain or contribute to a condition in New York state that endangers the safety or health of the public through the sale, manufacturing, importing or marketing of a qualified product. All gun industry members who manufacture, market, import or offer for wholesale or retail sale any qualified product in New York state shall establish and utilize reasonable controls and procedures to prevent its qualified products from being possessed, used, marketed or sold unlawfully in New York state …”

The gun industry has filed a lawsuit challenging this new law in court. The law remains in effect during this time.

Given that Tish James is an antigun ideologue and given that Democrats are desperately trying to divert attention away from the total disaster that is the Biden administration, I believe she will file a lawsuit with much grandstanding in the near future. Even if it ultimately gets shot down in court by the PLCAA she will still claim victory by forcing the industry to waste money defending themselves in court.

Westchester license fee update

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A-7939, Provides that the legislative body of the county of Westchester shall fix the fee to be charged for a license to carry or possess a pistol or revolver and provide for the disposition of such fees, is on the Ways & Means committee agenda for Monday, May 23 @ 1:15pm.

Newsbits

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Saturday’s Newsbits:

At 1:00pm on Sunday elected officials will join residents of Flatbush and other Brooklyn neighborhoods to march against “gun violence”, demanding action from Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul, 890 Flatbush Ave., Brooklyn.

Election:

Jurisprudence:

Politics:

Make firearms unable to shoot “rapid fire”

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Assemblyman Phil Steck is drafting bill requiring manufacturers make their firearms unable to be modified to shoot “rapid fire.”

Astorino calls for right-to-carry

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Rob Astorino has publicly called for right-to-carry. I believe this is the first time a major party candidate has done that in New York. I’m not a fan of the “red flag” enforcement, though. Still this is a major step forward.

Harry Wilson at Pine Tree this weekend

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Harry Wilson will be at the Pine Tree Rifle Club in Johnstown this Sunday May 22nd at 9:00am. He will stop by at the skeet house.

Newsbits

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Wednesday’s Newsbits:

Jurisprudence:

Legislation:

Politics:

It failed, so let’s have more of it

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The Extreme Risk Protection Orders bill, a.k.a “red flag”, was signed into law in ’19 with much fanfare:

“… The red flag law “will save lives and doesn’t infringe on anyone’s rights,” Cuomo said Monday in New York City. Cuomo was joined at a signing ceremony for the red flag bill by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as well as various gun control advocates …”

The Senate sponsor promised his bill would do great things:

““New York already has some of the strongest gun laws in the country — in large part because of the SAFE Act, which we enacted five years ago with Governor Andrew Cuomo’s leadership. Thanks to a combination of smart laws, good policing, and community-based intervention programs, New York has the third lowest rate of gun-related death in the country. “But every year, 900 New Yorkers are killed by guns. That is 900 too many. We can — and must — do more. And we must act now, before the legislative session ends … we cannot continue to risk New Yorkers’ lives by failing to adopt this proven measure. “For more than a year, Senator Hoylman, Assemblymember Simon, and I have worked with our legislative colleagues and a growing coalition of gun violence prevention advocates, mental health organizations, law enforcement officials, district attorneys, and healthcare organizations to build support for Extreme Risk Protection Orders in New York State … “The Governor’s bill — including a friendly amendment to our legislation, which would permit educators to request Extreme Risk Protection Orders — is a very important step forward in our efforts to enact this reform in New York and stop preventable gun violence …”

What happened next?

“At the end of last school year, Gov. Kathy Hochul says then 17-year-old Payton Gendron said for a class project about what he wanted to do next was to commit murder and suicide. Police said it triggered a mental health evaluation but Gendron was released with no further action. “I want to find out what happened with the application of our Red Flag Law, which I championed around the state, that when there’s early warning signs that someone can do harm to themselves or others, there has to be an examination as to whether not there are guns in the house that this person has access to,” Hochul said … State Sen. Brian Kavanagh, a Democrat from Manhattan who co-sponsored the legislation that passed in 2019, said this case should be fully investigated, but the state has issued roughly 1,500 ERPOs in the last three years and he has every reason to believe they may have saved other lives. “We have every reason to believe that if you issue orders when someone is a danger that you are decreasing the chances of harm in that case,” he said. “It’s important that if people who had access to this individual at that time and had reason to believe he was dangerous failed to act and get a Red Flag order in place that we learn from that and don’t repeat that mistake in other instances.” …”

Kavanuagh has “has every reason to believe [his bill] may have save other lives”, but no facts to actually back that up.

What to do next?  Admit failure?

Of course not:

“… Legislators in the final days of the scheduled session are considering whether to make it mandatory to report a “red flag” if someone makes a violent threat that could pose an extreme risk to themselves or others, according to a source familiar with discussions …”