According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), 2022 saw an amazing 16.4 million guns sold through retail outlets.
These figures included 1.7 million through December and the holidays alone, as more law-abiding U.S. citizens exercised their constitutional freedoms.
These high marks were reported even in states such as New York, New Jersey, and Delaware, all of which enacted new anti-gun measures last year.
State residents are now told that they may sue legal gun manufacturers over actions committed by criminals.
New York amended its “public nuisance” law to permit the state, local governments, and crime victims to sue lawful gun manufacturers and distributors over misuse of their products by criminals.
This egregious act led to the NSSF filing suit against New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Already the ill-conceived law is being used for legal actions against gun manufacturers by the cities of Buffalo and Rochester, and certainly more legal actions are on the way.
New Jersey joined the mad rush to abridge gun producers’ and owners’ rights by putting in place several new regulations to increase so-called “accountability” by gun manufacturers.
Gov. Phil Murphy created the Statewide Affirmative Firearms Enforcement office, an agency charged only with filing frivolous suits against gun makers.
Attorney General Matt Platkin noted that with the new office, “we are sending a clear message to every participant in the firearms industry: if you violate our laws, you will pay.”
This despite the fact that it is clearly the criminals in New Jersey who are in violation of the law, not companies that produce both legal and constitutionally protecting products.
Law-abiding citizens are hardly in violation of state statutes. This, of course, is simply another way for the government to skirt the Constitution and go after those who obey the laws of the land.
Similar action was undertaken by Delaware, which pushed through a package of six measures aimed at increasing gun control and “accountability.” Part of the measure stated that it will make “gun makers and dealers liable for gun violence.”
Nevermind that the gun purchaser already passed the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check (NICS).
California joined the anti-gun chorus, enacting its own version of the “accountability” laws passed by the eastern states. Its SB 1327 took effect Jan. 1 and cleared the way for private citizens to sue gun manufacturers based on so-called “assault weapons” sales or the state’s ban on gun transactions for anyone under 21.
Other measures by the state, led by Gov. Gavin Newsom, were toned down or removed after a fierce legal backlash.
As Dan Walters of Cal Matters noted, the California moves are motivated by political theater.
The guns in question are already illegal under state law, and the manufacturers targeted by the governor take drastic measures to ensure that they are not sold within the state’s borders.
This rush of new laws, both enacted in 2022 and in the new year, do nothing to protect Americans from the criminal element. In fact, they in many cases run afoul of the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA).
This significant provision was enacted in 2005 under then-President George W. Bush.
It enjoyed bipartisan support in the aftermath of a wave of lawsuits attempting to put lawful gun manufacturers out of business over acts committed by lawless criminals.
The nation’s lawmakers are taking a decidedly backwards approach to dealing with the current crime wave.
Instead of locking away violent criminals and enabling law-abiding Americans to defend themselves, they have set a course to coddle lawbreakers and strip the people’s rights to keep and bear arms.
The results are both alarming and predictable.
