Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News Second Amendment

Judges Matter: Contrasting Court Decisions Demonstrate Importance of Judiciary to Second Amendment Rights

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Judges Matter: Contrasting Court Decisions Demonstrate Importance of Judiciary to Second Amendment Rights

I’ve said it before: President Trump’s nomination of conservative judges may well be his most important legacy.

Here, “conservative” does not refer to political ideology. It means a legal philosophy that seeks fidelity to the Constitution’s original meaning and the plain text of our laws.

This contrasts with “progressive” jurisprudence that treats legal texts not as enduring constraints, but as springboards to policies or outcomes judges think best for present times.

Two recent judicial decisions illustrate the difference in these approaches and what is at stake for gun owners.

The first is Soto v. Bushmaster, which concerned whether the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) blocked a lawsuit to hold the manufacturer of the gun used in the terrible crimes in Newtown, Conn. responsible for the murders.

The essence of the PLCAA is that gun makers and sellers who follow the laws governing their businesses should not be held responsible for the criminal misuse of their products by third persons.

This general principle applies without controversy to the manufacturers and dealers of other lawful products. Auto makers, for example, are not liable for damages caused by drunk drivers.

Yet anti-gun activists and politicians in the 1990s launched a highly-coordinated effort to sue the gun industry for the acts of armed criminals. Whether they won or lost didn’t really matter. The point was to force the industry to go bankrupt defending the suits or to extract settlement agreements under which the companies would “voluntarily” adopt the same sorts of gun controls the activists had been unsuccessful in enacting into law.

Fortunately, the PLCAA ended this abusive litigation in 2005.

Or so it seemed.

The PLCAA was not intended to protect bad actors. It therefore excludes, among others, those who violate a law “applicable to the sale or marketing of the [firearm or ammunition]” in a way that causes the plaintiff’s injuries. An example would be if a licensed firearm dealer sold a gun to a violent felon without running the mandatory background check, and the felon then used that gun to commit a crime.

In the case of the Newtown crimes, however, the perpetrator didn’t buy the gun. His mother did, and the parties involved in the sale followed all applicable laws governing the manufacture, distribution and sale of the rifle.

Nevertheless, the plaintiffs still contend the sale was illegal because, so they argue, the rifle’s manufacturer violated a Connecticut law against fraudulent advertising, which led the killer to choose that gun over other firearms his mother kept in the house, making the attack more deadly.

This outlandish advertising theory was not only a first of its kind end-run around the PLCAA, it was the first time the Connecticut advertising law had been applied to a gun case or even to any personal injury case. Even left-leaning legal commentators have characterized it as a long shot.

But the argument was good enough for the Connecticut Supreme Court to allow the case to go forward, effectively sentencing the manufacturer to crushing legal expenses and allowing the media to uncritically parrot claims that it intentionally marketed its guns to mass murderers.

In contrast, a case from California, of all places, provides a bracing counterpoint to Connecticut’s judicial activism. In Duncan v. Becerra, federal Judge Roger T. Benitez held that California’s ban on magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition violated the Second Amendment.

Judge Benitez relied on a very straightforward reading of District of Columbia v. Heller and the Second Amendment’s protection of arms in common use by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes. He also rejected the idea that the Second Amendment must somehow yield to modernity. “Individual liberty and freedom are not outmoded concepts,” he declared.

The opinion additionally criticized the California law for “turning the Constitution upside down” by revoking a grandfather clause that protected lawful magazine owners. The Constitution, it noted, emphasizes individual liberty, not government convenience. And in what may have been a first for a judicial opinion, Judge Benitez began his opinion by highlighting several instances in which law-abiding citizens used standard capacity magazines to protect themselves against violence attacks.

Two cases, two different outcomes, pointing the way to two possible futures for gun owners. This starkly demonstrates the importance of President Trump’s judicial nominees, as well as the importance of him being able to make them beyond 2020.

TRENDING NOW
Federal Legislation Introduced to Ban “Gas Operated Semiautomatic” Firearms

Friday, December 1, 2023

Federal Legislation Introduced to Ban “Gas Operated Semiautomatic” Firearms

Joe Biden has long insisted he would ban what he calls “assault weapons” and has enlisted a motley succession of extreme anti-gun legislators to aid in that effort. Now, Senators Angus King (IND-ME) and Martin ...

Federal Judge in Colorado Insists There is No Second Amendment Right to Buy a Gun

News  

Monday, November 20, 2023

Federal Judge in Colorado Insists There is No Second Amendment Right to Buy a Gun

Honest people can disagree with the Founders’ decision to enshrine the Second Amendment within the Bill of Rights. They cannot, however, pretend that decision never happened. For much of the 20th Century, however, gun control activists ...

Following Terrorist Attack, Israel Relaxes Gun Laws and Arms Civilians

News  

Monday, October 16, 2023

Following Terrorist Attack, Israel Relaxes Gun Laws and Arms Civilians

Following an unprecedented terrorist attack on civilians that indiscriminately targeted even the elderly, women, and children, Israel has loosened its gun laws and is distributing firearms to civilians. As of press time, the number of victims killed in ...

Virginia: Omnibus Gun Control Bills Filed Ahead of the 2024 Legislative Session

Thursday, November 30, 2023

Virginia: Omnibus Gun Control Bills Filed Ahead of the 2024 Legislative Session

In Virginia, the pre-filing of legislation has begun for the 2024 session and anti-gun legislators are wasting no time in aggressively laying out their agenda. 

Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Strikes Maryland’s Handgun Qualification License Requirement in NRA-Backed Case.

Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Strikes Maryland’s Handgun Qualification License Requirement in NRA-Backed Case.

On Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals ruled that Maryland’s Handgun Qualification License (“HQL”) requirement is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. 

Canadians on Canada’s Gun Control Measures: Expensive, Ineffective, Political Posturing

News  

Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Canadians on Canada’s Gun Control Measures: Expensive, Ineffective, Political Posturing

More than three years have passed since Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a ban and mandatory confiscation (“buyback”) of what he called “military grade assault weapons,” which was followed by a national handgun “freeze” ...

Seventh Circuit Strains to Uphold Illinois’ Gun and Magazine Ban

News  

Monday, November 13, 2023

Seventh Circuit Strains to Uphold Illinois’ Gun and Magazine Ban

At this point, gun owners and other productive Americans don’t anticipate much good news out of Chicago. On November 3, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit lived up to those expectations when it upheld Illinois’ ...

Kentucky: Senator Westerfield Expected to Introduce Red Flag Legislation for a Hearing this Month

Friday, December 1, 2023

Kentucky: Senator Westerfield Expected to Introduce Red Flag Legislation for a Hearing this Month

The Interim Joint Committee on Judiciary is expected to hear legislation on "Red Flag" laws later this month as a result of legislation to be filed by Senator Whitney Westerfield (R-3). While an official agenda ...

SCOTUS Bruen Decision (Unsurprisingly) Popular with American People

News  

Monday, November 20, 2023

SCOTUS Bruen Decision (Unsurprisingly) Popular with American People

When the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) released its decision last year in the landmark New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen case, anti-gun extremist organizations had a collective conniption ...

Updates to ATF Final Rule on Stabilizing Braces

News  

Monday, January 30, 2023

Updates to ATF Final Rule on Stabilizing Braces

On Monday, January 30, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ (ATF) published the final Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached “Stabilizing Braces” rule for public inspection in the federal register.

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.