Capito, Republican Colleagues Introduce Bill to Increase Protections for Firearms Industry

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Recently, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) joined Senate Republican colleagues in introducing the Stopping Harmful and Outrageous Torts (SHOT) Act, which would strengthen the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) to provide enhanced protections to the firearms industry from lawsuits brought by anti-gun groups.

"I am proud to join my Senate Republican colleagues to introduce the SHOT Act, legislation that strengthens protections for lawful firearms manufacturers and retailers against politically motivated lawsuits while safeguarding the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans. West Virginians are staunch defenders of our right to bear arms, and I will always advocate to protect our Constitutional freedoms," Senator Capito said.

BACKGROUND:

The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) was passed by Congress 20 years ago to stop lawsuits brought by anti-gun groups against the firearms industry. These lawsuits, premised solely on the actions of third parties who misuse firearms in a manner beyond the industry's control, sought to bankrupt the firearms industry. In response, the PLCAA provided the firearms industry with basic immunity protections from suits that many other American industries enjoy.

The Stopping Harmful and Outrageous Torts (SHOT) Act would address tactics the anti-gun lobby has taken to go after firearms manufacturers and undermine the PLCAA's protections, along with holdings by judges, by establishing new provisions under the law that would:

• Delineate a standardized process for removing and dismissing baseless actions brought against the firearms industry;

• Require complaints premised on an exception to the PLCAA's protections to be pled with particularity, including providing the facts necessary to establish scienter and proximate cause;

• Create an interlocutory appeal as of right for industry defendants if a motion to dismiss based on the PLCAA's protections is denied;

• Grant a defendant who asserts immunity under the PLCAA and prevails attorneys' fees and court costs;

• Clarify that the PLCAA's protections preempt state or local laws;

• Make plain that foreign governments may not bring a qualified civil liability action against a defendant in U.S. federal or state courts;

• Update the definitions of a "qualified product" to include firearms accessories such as magazines and optical devices;

• Revise the definition of a "qualified civil liability action" to make clear that any claim premised on an exception to immunity requires the plaintiff to be directly injured by a defendant, and that nuisance or negligence claims do not qualify as an exception;

• And expand the definition of a "seller" of a qualified product.

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