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The day after Wednesday's mass school shootings in Texas, the California State Assembly passed AB 1594, which allows survivors of gun violence in California to sue gun manufacturers and sellers for damages if the gun was sold in violation of a new firearm industry standard of conduct.
The bill was approved by a vote of 50-20 and now heads to the California State Senate for consideration.
If enacted, the bill will create an industry standard of conduct in California that will require manufacturers and sellers to establish reasonable controls on the sale and marketing of guns. In the language of the legislative comments that accompanied the bill, gun manufacturers and sellers may be sued if they are "irresponsible, reckless, and negligent in the sale or marketing of their products in California."
Types of conduct that could fall into that category would be the sale of guns that are "most suitable for assaultive purposes" rather than for hunting or self-defense. Another category would be sales that target minors or other individuals legally prohibited from buying firearms.
The statute is designed to permit state law actions against gun manufacturers and sellers that might otherwise by precluded by the federal "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act" signed into law on Oct. 26, 2005 by then President George W. Bush. The federal statute provides immunity to manufacturers and sellers if a gun they have sold is used illegally.
There are several exceptions to the federal immunity, one of them is applicable when the manufacturer or seller "knowingly violated a state…statute applicable to the sale or marketing of the product."
The legislative comments to the bill note that courts have differed on interpreting the scope of the federal exception. Two courts—one of them the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit (the federal appellate court that covers California)—adopted narrow interpretations of the exception. Those courts said that the exemption does not apply to state laws that are generally applicable to the sale or manufacture of commercial products, but only to state laws that specifically apply to the firearms industry.
AB 1594 seeks to fall within that narrow interpretation by creating a law that is specifically applicable to the firearms industry.
The bill—co-authored by The Brady Campaign and California Attorney General Rob Bonta—was introduced by Assemblymembers Phil Ting, D-San Francisco; Mike Gipson, D-Compton; and Chris Ward, D-San Diego.
Ting said, "It's not fair that almost every industry in the United States can be held liable for what their products do, yet the gun industry is exempt from that, providing no incentive to follow our laws."
Ting added, "Hitting their bottom line may finally compel them to take every step possible to prevent illegal sales and theft of firearms to reduce gun violence."
In addition to individuals who have been harmed by gun violence in California, the bill allows the attorney general, as well as city and county attorneys, to bring actions to enforce the provisions of the bill.
If enacted, the bill would take effect July 1, 2023.
