[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 397 Placed on Calendar Senate (PCS)]






                                                        Calendar No. 15
109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 397

  To prohibit civil liability actions from being brought or continued 
against manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or importers of firearms 
 or ammunition for damages, injunctive or other relief resulting from 
                the misuse of their products by others.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 16, 2005

  Mr. Craig (for himself, Mr. Baucus, Mr. Alexander, Mr. Bunning, Mr. 
 Burns, Mr. Chambliss, Mr. Coburn, Ms. Collins, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Crapo, 
  Mr. Domenici, Mr. Ensign, Mr. Enzi, Mrs. Hutchison, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. 
Isakson, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Kyl, Mrs. Lincoln, Ms. Murkowski, Mr. Nelson 
 of Nebraska, Mr. Santorum, Mr. Sessions, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Stevens, Mr. 
Thomas, Mr. Thune, Mr. Sununu, Mr. Allen, Mr. Vitter, and Ms. Landrieu) 
      introduced the following bill; which was read the first time

                           February 17, 2005

            Read the second time and placed on the calendar

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To prohibit civil liability actions from being brought or continued 
against manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or importers of firearms 
 or ammunition for damages, injunctive or other relief resulting from 
                the misuse of their products by others.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protection of Lawful Commerce in 
Arms Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution 
        provides that the right of the people to keep and bear arms 
        shall not be infringed.
            (2) The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution 
        protects the rights of individuals, including those who are not 
        members of a militia or engaged in military service or 
        training, to keep and bear arms.
            (3) Lawsuits have been commenced against manufacturers, 
        distributors, dealers, and importers of firearms that operate 
        as designed and intended, which seek money damages and other 
        relief for the harm caused by the misuse of firearms by third 
        parties, including criminals.
            (4) The manufacture, importation, possession, sale, and use 
        of firearms and ammunition in the United States are heavily 
        regulated by Federal, State, and local laws. Such Federal laws 
        include the Gun Control Act of 1968, the National Firearms Act, 
        and the Arms Export Control Act.
            (5) Businesses in the United States that are engaged in 
        interstate and foreign commerce through the lawful design, 
        manufacture, marketing, distribution, importation, or sale to 
        the public of firearms or ammunition products that have been 
        shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce are 
        not, and should not, be liable for the harm caused by those who 
        criminally or unlawfully misuse firearm products or ammunition 
        products that function as designed and intended.
            (6) The possibility of imposing liability on an entire 
        industry for harm that is solely caused by others is an abuse 
        of the legal system, erodes public confidence in our Nation's 
        laws, threatens the diminution of a basic constitutional right 
        and civil liberty, invites the disassembly and destabilization 
        of other industries and economic sectors lawfully competing in 
        the free enterprise system of the United States, and 
        constitutes an unreasonable burden on interstate and foreign 
        commerce of the United States.
            (7) The liability actions commenced or contemplated by the 
        Federal Government, States, municipalities, and private 
        interest groups and others are based on theories without 
        foundation in hundreds of years of the common law and 
        jurisprudence of the United States and do not represent a bona 
        fide expansion of the common law. The possible sustaining of 
        these actions by a maverick judicial officer or petit jury 
        would expand civil liability in a manner never contemplated by 
        the framers of the Constitution, by Congress, or by the 
        legislatures of the several States. Such an expansion of 
        liability would constitute a deprivation of the rights, 
        privileges, and immunities guaranteed to a citizen of the 
        United States under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United 
        States Constitution.
            (8) The liability actions commenced or contemplated by the 
        Federal Government, States, municipalities, private interest 
        groups and others attempt to use the judicial branch to 
        circumvent the Legislative branch of government to regulate 
        interstate and foreign commerce through judgments and judicial 
        decrees thereby threatening the Separation of Powers doctrine 
        and weakening and undermining important principles of 
        federalism, State sovereignty and comity between the sister 
        States.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are as follows:
            (1) To prohibit causes of action against manufacturers, 
        distributors, dealers, and importers of firearms or ammunition 
        products, and their trade associations, for the harm solely 
        caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse of firearm products 
        or ammunition products by others when the product functioned as 
        designed and intended.
            (2) To preserve a citizen's access to a supply of firearms 
        and ammunition for all lawful purposes, including hunting, 
        self-defense, collecting, and competitive or recreational 
        shooting.
            (3) To guarantee a citizen's rights, privileges, and 
        immunities, as applied to the States, under the Fourteenth 
        Amendment to the United States Constitution, pursuant to 
        section 5 of that Amendment.
            (4) To prevent the use of such lawsuits to impose 
        unreasonable burdens on interstate and foreign commerce.
            (5) To protect the right, under the First Amendment to the 
        Constitution, of manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and 
        importers of firearms or ammunition products, and trade 
        associations, to speak freely, to assemble peaceably, and to 
        petition the Government for a redress of their grievances.
            (6) To preserve and protect the Separation of Powers 
        doctrine and important principles of federalism, State 
        sovereignty and comity between sister States.
            (7) To exercise congressional power under art. IV, section 
        1 (the Full Faith and Credit Clause) of the United States 
        Constitution.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON BRINGING OF QUALIFIED CIVIL LIABILITY ACTIONS IN 
              FEDERAL OR STATE COURT.

    (a) In General.--A qualified civil liability action may not be 
brought in any Federal or State court.
    (b) Dismissal of Pending Actions.--A qualified civil liability 
action that is pending on the date of enactment of this Act shall be 
immediately dismissed by the court in which the action was brought or 
is currently pending.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Engaged in the business.--The term ``engaged in the 
        business'' has the meaning given that term in section 
        921(a)(21) of title 18, United States Code, and, as applied to 
        a seller of ammunition, means a person who devotes, time, 
        attention, and labor to the sale of ammunition as a regular 
        course of trade or business with the principal objective of 
        livelihood and profit through the sale or distribution of 
        ammunition.
            (2) Manufacturer.--The term ``manufacturer'' means, with 
        respect to a qualified product, a person who is engaged in the 
        business of manufacturing the product in interstate or foreign 
        commerce and who is licensed to engage in business as such a 
        manufacturer under chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code.
            (3) Person.--The term ``person'' means any individual, 
        corporation, company, association, firm, partnership, society, 
        joint stock company, or any other entity, including any 
        governmental entity.
            (4) Qualified product.--The term ``qualified product'' 
        means a firearm (as defined in subparagraph (A) or (B) of 
        section 921(a)(3) of title 18, United States Code), including 
        any antique firearm (as defined in section 921(a)(16) of such 
        title), or ammunition (as defined in section 921(a)(17)(A) of 
        such title), or a component part of a firearm or ammunition, 
        that has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign 
        commerce.
            (5) Qualified civil liability action.--
                    (A) In general.--The term ``qualified civil 
                liability action'' means a civil action or proceeding 
                or an administrative proceeding brought by any person 
                against a manufacturer or seller of a qualified 
                product, or a trade association, for damages, punitive 
                damages, injunctive or declaratory relief, abatement, 
                restitution, fines, or penalties, or other relief'' 
                resulting from the criminal or unlawful misuse of a 
                qualified product by the person or a third party, but 
                shall not include--
                            (i) an action brought against a transferor 
                        convicted under section 924(h) of title 18, 
                        United States Code, or a comparable or 
                        identical State felony law, by a party directly 
                        harmed by the conduct of which the transferee 
                        is so convicted;
                            (ii) an action brought against a seller for 
                        negligent entrustment or negligence per se;
                            (iii) an action in which a manufacturer or 
                        seller of a qualified product knowingly 
                        violated a State or Federal statute applicable 
                        to the sale or marketing of the product, and 
                        the violation was a proximate cause of the harm 
                        for which relief is sought, including--
                                    (I) any case in which the 
                                manufacturer or seller knowingly made 
                                any false entry in, or failed to make 
                                appropriate entry in, any record 
                                required to be kept under Federal or 
                                State law with respect to the qualified 
                                product, or aided, abetted, or 
                                conspired with any person in making any 
                                false or fictitious oral or written 
                                statement with respect to any fact 
                                material to the lawfulness of the sale 
                                or other disposition of a qualified 
                                product; or
                                    (II) any case in which the 
                                manufacturer or seller aided, abetted, 
                                or conspired with any other person to 
                                sell or otherwise dispose of a 
                                qualified product, knowing, or having 
                                reasonable cause to believe, that the 
                                actual buyer of the qualified product 
                                was prohibited from possessing or 
                                receiving a firearm or ammunition under 
                                subsection (g) or (n) of section 922 of 
                                title 18, United States Code;
                            (iv) an action for breach of contract or 
                        warranty in connection with the purchase of the 
                        product; or
                            (v) an action for death, physical injuries 
                        or property damage resulting directly from a 
                        defect in design or manufacture of the product, 
                        when used as intended or in a reasonably 
                        foreseeable manner, except that where the 
                        discharge of the product was caused by a 
                        volitional act that constituted a criminal 
                        offense then such act shall be considered the 
                        sole proximate cause of any resulting death, 
                        personal injuries or property damage.
                    (B) Negligent entrustment.--As used in subparagraph 
                (A)(ii), the term `negligent entrustment' means the 
                supplying of a qualified product by a seller for use by 
                another person when the seller knows, or reasonably 
                should know, the person to whom the product is supplied 
                is likely to, and does, use the product in a manner 
                involving unreasonable risk of physical injury to the 
                person or others.
                    (C) Rule of construction.--The exceptions 
                enumerated under clauses (i) through (v) of 
                subparagraph (A) shall be construed so as not to be in 
                conflict, and no provision of this Act shall be 
                construed to create a public or private cause of action 
                or remedy.
            (6) Seller.--The term ``seller'' means, with respect to a 
        qualified product--
                    (A) an importer (as defined in section 921(a)(9) of 
                title 18, United States Code) who is engaged in the 
                business as such an importer in interstate or foreign 
                commerce and who is licensed to engage in business as 
                such an importer under chapter 44 of title 18, United 
                States Code;
                    (B) a dealer (as defined in section 921(a)(11) of 
                title 18, United States Code) who is engaged in the 
                business as such a dealer in interstate or foreign 
                commerce and who is licensed to engage in business as 
                such a dealer under chapter 44 of title 18, United 
                States Code; or
                    (C) a person engaged in the business of selling 
                ammunition (as defined in section 921(a)(17)(A) of 
                title 18, United States Code) in interstate or foreign 
                commerce at the wholesale or retail level.
            (7) State.--The term ``State'' includes each of the several 
        States of the United States, the District of Columbia, the 
        Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American 
        Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 
        and any other territory or possession of the United States, and 
        any political subdivision of any such place.
            (8) Trade association.--The term ``trade association'' 
        means--
                    (A) any corporation, unincorporated association, 
                federation, business league, professional or business 
                organization not organized or operated for profit and 
                no part of the net earnings of which inures to the 
                benefit of any private shareholder or individual;
                    (B) that is an organization described in section 
                501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and 
                exempt from tax under section 501(a) of such Code; and
                    (C) 2 or more members of which are manufacturers or 
                sellers of a qualified product.
            (9) Unlawful misuse.--The term ``unlawful misuse'' means 
        conduct that violates a statute, ordinance, or regulation as it 
        relates to the use of a qualified product.
                                                        Calendar No. 15

109th CONGRESS

  1st Session

                                 S. 397

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

  To prohibit civil liability actions from being brought or continued 
against manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or importers of firearms 
 or ammunition for damages, injunctive or other relief resulting from 
                the misuse of their products by others.

_______________________________________________________________________

                           February 17, 2005

            Read the second time and placed on the calendar