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Governor Mike Foster signed House Bill 1639 yesterday, making Louisiana the thirteenth state in 1999 so far to enact legislation to protect lawful firearm commerce and the rights of gun owners by limiting reckless lawsuits against the firearm industry. In mid-June, Governor Foster also signed House Bill 1094 that specifically preempted frivolous suits brought by local jurisdictions in Louisiana.
NRA extended its thanks to Governor Foster and the sponsors of the two bills: Rep. Chuck McMains (R-Baton Rouge), Rep. Steve Scalise (R-Jefferson), Sen. Jay Dardenne (R-Baton Rouge), and Sen. John Hainkel (R-New Orleans).
"I applaud Governor Foster and the bill sponsors for standing up to the reckless band of trial lawyers and gun-ban groups who are behind recent lawsuits against the firearm industry," said James Jay Baker, Executive Director of NRA^s Institute for Legislative Action. "As an organization, NRA represents the individual gun owner, and while the lawsuits brought by certain big city mayors ostensibly target gun makers, their true target is nothing less than the Second Amendment itself. I am proud of the success that gun owners and their elected representatives have had in turning back this campaign against our rights and the democratic process."
In 1998, New Orleans became the first city to file a lawsuit against the firearm industry in the latest tactic of gun-ban groups to circumvent the policy process in order to restrict the rights of law abiding gun owners. While the details of each suit varies, all seek to blame lawful firearm commerce for the failure to control violent crime in some of America^s big cities. Such suits have traditionally been thrown out by the courts, but the new wrinkle in this approach to gun control is the use of taxpayer resources and the support of trial lawyers flush from their recent attacks on the tobacco industry.
Baker continued, "We recognize that, if left unchecked, the burden of simply defending against these lawsuits until they can be dismissed could drive gun manufacturers out of business and severely impact the ability of citizens to acquire firearms for lawful purposes. That^s the bottom line." In fact, supporters of the lawsuits no longer claim to be seeking compensation for the victims of violence; rather, they unabashedly state they are using the lawsuits as blackmail against gun manufacturers.
Early this year, NRA began working in state capitols to mount a legislative campaign against this new assault on the Second Amendment. In just the past six months, nearly two dozen states have introduced some form of lawsuit preemption legislation, and thirteen states have enacted it into law including: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming. Particularly significant are Georgia and Louisiana, since suits filed by Atlanta and New Orleans will be blocked bythe legislation.
Uploaded: 7/28/1999
Uploaded: 7/28/1999