Posted on 05/18/2021 6:02:29 AM PDT by Hostage
The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) has long protected the gun industry from abusive lawsuits that the anti-gun Left would file if they could. No gunmaker can be sued for mass shootings or anything where their products were unknowingly and unwillingly used in a crime. It must be something serious that knowingly selling to FFLs that did business with straw purchasers or worse, sold guns with issues, like defective safeties, and did nothing about it.
These are legitimate legal points from which to file a lawsuit. Suing a gun maker simply because you hate the Second Amendment isn’t in the cards. The anti-gun Left knows this. They know the PLCAA is probably here to stay barring some seismic shift in elections. They still rail against it and call for its repeal. Joe Biden has joined that chorus now. So, how will they get around it? They’re going the consumer protection route. Yes, it’s a ruse – but don’t roll your eyes, folks. We have scored landmark rulings in support of gun rights in years past. The legal route is stacked against them in a lot of ways, not least because the judiciary got a facelift under Trump. There are clear rulings concerning the constitutionality of gun ownership not connected to service in a militia. So, the Left is trying to make the argument that gun manufacturers committed consumer fraud through their speech – and therefore, that’s not protected under the First Amendment and a criminal offense that could open the way for lawsuits. This brings us to New Jersey where the state attorney general, Gurbir Grewal, is leading the charge in trying to shred gun rights through this route.
Smith and Wesson filed suit against the New Jersey state Attorney General Grewel after he subpoenaed the company, asking for, among other things, materials regarding their marketing strategy – and ostensibly challenges whether owning a firearm is a “lifestyle” choice, and therefore violates the state’s consumer fraud laws. The anti-gun Left wants to know the inner workings of the gun industry and because it’s a state investigation, the threshold isn’t high for these folks regarding securing such a wide-ranging probe. They then, pawn this information off to their allies in the trial lawyers’ corps which the State of New Jersey names on the “approved special counsel list” on their attorney general’s website.
This isn’t a secret. It’s just not being reported. At the heart of the case, is the New Jersey Attorney General’s position that any opinion that a firearm can be used for self-defense is fraudulent. That’s what’s going to be argued. Oral arguments in Smith & Wesson v. Grewel begin today in district court.
Follow this link for the background on why this case is important:
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2021/05/17/how-the-antigun-left-is-trying-to-chop-the-gun-industry-at-its-knees
The 2nd Amendment is the backstop to Marxist assaults on liberty and must eventually emerge at the forefront in a Marxist revolution. For now, Americans focus on the possibly misguided belief in fair elections for 2022.
The State of New Jersey is attempting to insert a Trojan Horse into the gun control debate via consumer fraud arguments. If they are successful, the doors will be open to sue gun manufacturers for any claims they make concerning their products.
Death by a thousand cuts.
I always knew it would be new Jersey that brought down the United states.
Yes. Death by a thousand cuts indeed. The gun manufacturers can only withstand so much litigation before they go broke defending themselves. The Supreme Court of the US that supposedly backs the bill of Rights needs to intervene to protect those that manufacture goods PROTECTED by the Bill Of Rights.
Ban cars and planes and anything else that can be used to harm people; it’s not the device but the user that’s responsible.
Buying a BMW or a Ferrari is also a “Lifestyle” choice....
HOW does any state make such a law????????
What about car makers? Can they be sued when a drunk driver takes someone out? Or when an idiot drives into a crowd to hurt people?
If such a law/resolution was to pass it would be an amazingly slick slippery slope, with the simple aim of simply killing off gun companies financially.
As an aside - remember that at one time Britain and Australia had generally available gun-ownership.
At one time.
So then GM will be sued for drunk driving accidents...and Quaker Oats will be sued for obesity...
So with this logic, If someone uses a GMC truck as a killing machine and intentionally mows down people on the sidewalk, GMC can be sued because their product was used for murder ?
Thanks, bfl.
“ At the heart of the case, is the New Jersey Attorney General’s position that any opinion that a firearm can be used for self-defense is fraudulent.”
How can that opinion possibly be considered rational?
So it is New Jersey’s opinion that a firearm cannot be used for self defense? That’s a seriously strange form of delusion.
...and if the vehicle is a police car that crashes into someone, the manufacturer will be sued, forcing them to stop selling vehicles to police departments.
...and if the shooter of a criminal is police officer, the gun manufacturer will be sued, forcing them to stop selling firearms to police departments.
...and airplanes, pharmaceuticals, etc. The Left wants to bastardize the Law for their own gain but once bastardized, it affects all of it.
“ At the heart of the case, is the New Jersey Attorney General’s position that any opinion that a firearm can be used for self-defense is fraudulent.”
= = =
So, how about those armed cops all around the courtroom?
Not only that, but automakers produce cars that can (gasp) exceed any legal speed in the U.S.
Hey I live here and I’m tired of hearing the anti-New Jersey s**t.
We’re not all liberals here.
You want to bitch? Take it out on California.
A better researcher than I could provide a thousand examples in a good day of work why the AG is full of... stuff. It is a ridiculous argument.
No. Jersey, Calie, NY, Mass etc all have it coming.
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