Two dozen Republican state attorneys general filed amicus briefs Monday backing gun manufacturers against New York Attorney General Letitia James and two Democratic-run cities seeking to use state nuisance law to hold firearms makers liable for crimes committed with their products.
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen led the coalition in filing two briefs: one with the U.S. Supreme Court in National Shooting Sports Foundation v. James, and a second in federal district court opposing lawsuits filed by the cities of Buffalo and Rochester. Both sets of cases center on New York’s 2021 law designed to circumvent the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, the federal statute that shields gun makers and sellers from liability when legally manufactured firearms are used in crimes.
The PLCAA has been federal law since 2005. New York’s statute attempts to work around it by framing gun violence as a “public nuisance” created by manufacturers. The Republican AGs argued in their brief that the law is a “vague nuisance statute that specifically targets the firearms industry” and infringes on longstanding federal protections.
The Supreme Court brief, joined by 24 states including Texas, Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee, and obtained by Fox News, urges the high court to take up the case and shut down New York’s strategy before other blue states copy it. Knudsen warned that if New York succeeds, the tactic could spread nationwide, allowing liberal states to stack liability onto gun companies incorporated outside their borders, raising serious interstate commerce concerns.
James’ office has defended the 2021 law as a public safety measure and characterized lower court rulings in the case as victories for the rule of law.
The cases arrive at the Supreme Court with relevant precedent in play. In Smith & Wesson Brands v. Mexico, decided last year, the justices ruled 9-0 that Mexico had failed to present sufficient evidence to hold American gun makers liable for weapons trafficking. But that ruling did not address state statutes built to counter the PLCAA, leaving the door open for New York’s approach to be tested at the high court.
Knudsen has mounted similar interventions before, leading coalitions of red states against Hawaii carry restrictions and a California magazine ban.
