By: José Niño
California Assembly Member Phil Ting introduced Assembly Bill 1594 last week.
AB 1594 is a bill that would allow for individuals to file civil lawsuits against the firearm industry under nebulous conditions.
The bill states that a firearm industry member “shall have created or maintained a public nuisance… if their failure to follow federal, state, or local law caused injury or death or if the gun industry member engaged in unfair business practices.”
Contrary to popular belief, there are already stiff regulations in place at the federal and state level that regulate the firearm industry. The latter is true in a state like California, which is one of the most anti-gun states in the nation. According to Guns & Ammo magazine’s best states for gun owners rankings, California is ranked in an abysmal 47th place.
This bill is one of the latest schemes the anti-gun Left is using to assault the Second Amendment. They’re effectively trying to skirt the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), a bill that protects the firearm industry from frivolous lawsuits and other legal actions of dubious merit.
GPM reached out to Hannah Hill, Director of Research & Policy at the National Foundation for Gun Rights, to get her perspective on the issue:
“It takes a lot for California gun-grabbers to up their attacks on the Second Amendment, but they seem bent on making 2022 one for the books.
“At first glance, this bill is just another attempt to bypass federal law and hold gun sellers responsible for the actions of criminals, but in reality, it’s an alarming attack on the gun-supporting community at large.
“By not defining key terms and using the state’s public nuisance law, this bill would weaponize the anti-gun public to harass law-abiding businesses and possibly others as well. We don’t know how far this bill would go to attack the gun-supporting community – and that’s the point.”
Knowing full well that they can’t pass gun control legislation at the federal level, the anti-gunners are aiming for the low-hanging fruits in anti-gun states like California. These states are the testing grounds for civilian disarmament, where certain legislative measures can be passed and ultimately be replicated nationwide. What’s passed in California will ultimately make its way to other states across the country.
That’s why it’s so important for gun owners to pay attention to politics at all levels of government. That way, the worst gun control schemes can be stopped in their tracks by capsizing these proposals in state legislatures.
José Niño is a freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. Contact him via Facebook, Twitter, or email him at [email protected]. Get his e-book, The 10 Myths of Gun Control, here.