California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a state law that strengthens gun control and charges gun manufacturers. The law allows citizens and the administration to sue gun manufacturers for negligence in case of being victims of the use of these weapons. It is, in the Californian governor's own words, "allowing victims of gun violence to hold manufacturers accountable".
Gun manufacturers & distributors have been shielded from the mass destruction they cause for too long.
Today, CA changes that.
I just signed a bill that will allow victims of gun violence to sue the makers of these deadly weapons & hold them accountable. pic.twitter.com/S0AlrrkhML
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) July 12, 2022
"Gun manufacturers and distributors have been shielded from the mass destruction they cause for far too long," Newsom believes in the video posted on Twitter to mark the bill's passage.
AB 1594, which could pave the way for a wave of lawsuits, is another step in the Democratic states' quest to curb guns in the country. The new law provides that gun manufacturers and sellers could face lawsuits if their products are "abnormally dangerous," can be illegally reconverted or end up in the hands of people who are prohibited from owning firearms.
The bill also authorizes a person who has been harmed by guns in California, the Attorney General or city or county prosecutors to bring a civil action against any member of the firearms industry for an "act or omission that violates the industry's standard of conduct."
Gun control, a Democratic obsession
Gun control and Second Amendment limits have become an obsession for Democratic administrations. President Biden himself has waged a personal battle to end the possession of assault weapons. Several Democratic states are moving forward with restrictions on gun ownership and use. Even the Senate, with the support of several Republican representatives, passed the first law regulating gun control in the country in decades at the end of June.
California's new step goes further and contravenes the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) passed by the House in 2005. This law protects manufacturers from being prosecuted when crimes are committed with the guns they produce. The new California law uses an exemption to the federal statute to open the way for these lawsuits against the gun industry. this is a new way to hold a collective liable for damages caused by a few private individuals.
