Today, the Oklahoma Senate unanimously passed House Bill 1004, authored by state Representative T.W. Shannon (R-62) and state Senators Brian Bingman (R-3) and Anthony Sykes (R-24). This bill passed in the state House of Representativesby a 92-0 vote on September 5.
HB 1004 contains critical protections against attempts to bankrupt the American firearms industry through bogus lawsuits that would threaten the availability of firearms to consumers. This legislation would provide that lawsuits may not be brought against manufacturers, distributors or sellers of firearms if such suits are based on criminal or unlawful use of the product by a third party. However, these protections would not apply to actions arising from the unlawful sale or transfer of firearms, or to instances in which the transferor knew, or should have known, that the recipient would engage in the unlawful sale or transfer of the firearm, or would use, or purposely allow the use of, the firearm in an unlawful, negligent or improper fashion.
The language in HB 1004 was originally passed in 2009 as a section of House Bill 1603, which dealt broadly with tort reform and was law in Oklahoma until this June when the Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down HB 1603 for violating the state constitutional requirement that a bill can have only one subject, not multiple. Governor Mary Fallin (R) called the state legislature into special session to restore the reforms in the original HB 1603 by introducing each subject as separate bills.
This legislation will now go to Governor Fallin for her signature. If signed into law, this legislation will take immediate effect. The NRA thanks all state Senators and Representatives who voted for this critical protection of the Second Amendment.
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