Supreme Court Rejects Bid Against New York Gun Law — Law
The Supreme Court on Monday turned away a gun industry challenge to New York's law allowing lawsuits against gun makers, wholesalers and dealers over firearm and ammunition sales. The law remains in place after the justices declined to hear the appeal by the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
New York's statute lets state and local officials, as well as members of the public, bring civil suits. The state says the law is a public nuisance statute, and the dispute centered on whether it conflicts with the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.
Cuomo Signed the 2021 Law
Former Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the New York law in 2021. It requires the gun industry to use reasonable safeguards against gun trafficking, theft and straw purchasers who buy firearms for someone else.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation argued that the law was preempted by the 2005 federal law that shields the gun industry from civil liability when its products are used in crimes. Gun companies including Smith & Wesson, Ruger, Beretta, Glock, Sig Sauer and Sturm joined the appeal.
2nd Circuit Upheld It Last Year
The Manhattan-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law last year. Judge Eunice Lee wrote that Congress intended to preserve at least some causes of action when a defendant's knowing violation of federal or state firearms sales and marketing laws was a proximate cause of harm.
Judge Dennis Jacobs agreed that the New York law was not preempted. He said state lawmakers had contrived a broad public nuisance statute that applies solely to gun industry members and is enforceable by a mob of public and private actors.
National Shooting Sports Foundation Appeal
In its appeal, the trade group said the Supreme Court's review was sorely needed to keep states from frustrating Second Amendment rights by trying to bankrupt licensed industry members. It also said the decision below blows a gaping hole in a statute Congress enacted to protect the firearms industry from the kinds of lawsuits New York seeks to bring back.
New York said the 2nd Circuit ruling fit with the Supreme Court's 2025 decision sparing Smith & Wesson from a lawsuit by Mexico's government accusing the company of aiding illegal gun trafficking to drug cartels. New York also said at least nine states have passed laws using the same general framework, leaving the New York law as one of the most important state tests of the federal shield.
