Armed Pilots & Reckless Lawsuit Preemption Remain Top Priorities

Congress may operate beyond its targeted adjournment date of October 4, but there remains little time for action on two of NRA’s key legislative goals—the establishment of an effective armed pilots program and a prohibition on reckless lawsuits designed to bankrupt law-abiding gun manufacturers.

The U.S. Senate took action last week on arming pilots when it passed by an overwhelming margin U.S. Senator Bob Smith’s (R-N.H.) armed pilots amendment to H.R. 5005—the legislation that would create a Homeland Security Department. H.R. 5005 still has yet to come to a final vote in the Senate. Please continue to contact your U.S. Senators and urge them to keep the Smith amendment intact, and to do everything possible to ensure any armed pilots program passed includes every pilot interested in participating in the program.

Reckless lawsuit preemption legislation, which would block politically-motivated lawsuits that attempt to hold law-abiding gun makers liable for the criminal misuse of their products, still needs to move through both chambers of Congress. The House version, H.R. 2037, has 228 co-sponsors, but full committee markup that was tentatively-slated for this week in the House Energy and Commerce Committee did not take place. The Senate version, S. 2268, now has 40 co-sponsors. The number of co-sponsors for each bill shows solid support, but time is rapidly running out for lawmakers to pass these critical reforms. Please call both your U.S. Senators and your U.S. Representative and urge them to promote the passage of reckless lawsuit preemption legislation.

To contact your U.S. Representative, call (202) 225-3121, and to reach your U.S. Senators, call (202) 224-3121. Just ask to speak with your particular lawmaker. You can also use our "Write Your Representatives" tool.