Taking cues from Gov. Gavin Newsom, Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday announced they would introduce legislation allowing private citizens, local governments and the state to sue reckless gun manufacturers.
The proposal is similar to a controversial measure passed by Texas lawmakers last year that allows private citizens to sue those who get abortions or assist others in getting abortions.
After the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Texas law, Newsom vowed to work with the California Legislature on a bill that would allow private citizens to sue anyone who manufactures, distributes or sells an assault weapon or ghost gun kit or parts in California
Advocates and authors for the legislation said Tuesday that their bill is separate from the proposal Newsom suggested in December.
Lawmakers said they have been working on the bill since the summer, and it’s modeled on law passed in New York state in July. The New York statute says industry stakeholders can be held liable for the illegal or “unreasonable” sale, manufacture, distribution, importing or marketing of firearms that cause harm to the public as a “public nuisance.”
“I think this gets at the spirit of what the governor was asking, which is really that ordinary Californians really have the ability to hold the gun industry accountable,” said Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco and chair of the Assembly Budget Committee.
Assembly Bill 1594, authored by Ting and fellow Democratic Assemblymen Chris Ward and Mike Gipson, would allow local governments and survivors of gun violence to pursue legal action in California courts against irresponsible, reckless or negligent gun manufacturers, importers and dealers.
“Almost every industry in the US is held liable for what their products do,” Ting said. “If you have a detective toy, if your car has a problem, those manufacturers are held responsible for what happens and what their products do. The gun industry is the one exception.”
Under a 2005 federal law, firearm manufacturers are protected from being held liable when crimes are committed with their products. This new bill would open up manufacturers to litigation in California courts.
Tanya Schardt, senior counsel for the gun control advocacy group Brady, said gun dealers on the whole are not engaging in dangerous business practices. The bill targets a small minority of dealers who could be selling to straw purchasers who then traffic the guns into communities with high rates of gun violence.
The law would focus on allowing survivors, victims, their families and whole communities who have been impacted by gun violence to pursue claims against the gun industry.
“You might have one of those communities pursuing a claim against those gun dealers. You might have one of those communities pursuing a claim against a manufacturer who is selling to those gun dealers, even though they know that those gun dealers are selling firearms that are used in crime,” Schardt said. “You might have a claim against a gun dealer that sold to somebody who was prohibited or somebody who was in crisis.”
“Any kind of gun dealer who’s acting in a way that’s reckless or dangerous that creates an environment where somebody is harmed, those are the types of claims that we believe people should have an opportunity to pursue,” she added.
California’s homicide rate rose 31% in 2020, according to the California Department of Justice, making it the deadliest year since 2007. Three-quarters of the 2020 homicides involved a firearm.
Gipson, a Carson Democrat, said the bill is personal to him. Gipson’s 32-year-old son and his fiance were shot in April 2020 while walking down the street in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Gramercy Park.
“My son was shot twice, his fiance was shot, and another man was shot in the head,” Gipson said. “This is absolutely personal to me, that no family has to go through what my family had to go through, receiving that traumatic call, dealing with a situation not knowing whether or not your loved one will live or die.”
Gipson’s son and his fiance survived the shooting. Another man, Gary Moody, 55, was killed.
Gipson in 2019 authored Assembly Bill 879, which cracks down on “ghost guns” or those firearms assembled from kits that don’t have a commercial serial numbers. The bill was signed by Newsom and requires a state background check for purchases of unfinished firearm frames and receivers, and that all purchases take place through a licensed gun dealer.
The lawmaker said Tuesday he intends to introduce another gun control bill later this week, that would allow people to sue for the sale and manufacture of ghost guns and assault weapons in California.
Daniel Lopez, press secretary for the governor, said in an email that Newsom is working with the Legislature on a set of bills related to gun control.
“So long as the United States Supreme Court has set a precedent which allows private citizens to sue to stop abortions in Texas, California will use that same ability to save lives,” Lopez said. “The administration is working closely with the Legislature on a package of gun measures and will continue to closely monitor these bills as they develop.”
This story was originally published January 04, 2022 12:22 PM.