NSSF Seeks Injunction Against Radical California AB 1594 Law

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) is challenging California’s firearm industry liability law, AB 1594, passed in 2022 and signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The law, which goes into effect on July 23, 2023, encourages civil suits against the firearm industry for the illegal actions of criminals with guns. This law is an affront to the U.S. Constitution and is an attempt to circumvent the will of the U.S. Congress when it passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA).

The litigation, NSSF v. Bonta, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. The NSSF now seeks a preliminary injunction to halt enforcement of AB 1594 as challenges to the unconstitutional law progress through the courts.

NSSF Files Motion to Enjoin Unconstitutional California Firearm Industry Liability Law
The NSSF filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in its legal challenge, NSSF v. Bonta, seeking to enjoin California’s firearm industry liability law, AB 1594. The unconstitutional law permits and encourages civil suits against members of the firearm industry for the damages/injuries caused by the actions of criminals. The law goes into effect next month on 7/23/23.

NSSF’s motion argues that California’s firearm industry liability law is preempted by the Federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) which was passed with bipartisan support in Congress and subsequently signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2005. The PLCAA was specifically enacted to stamp out frivolous lawsuits sought by activist politicians, gun control lawyers and greedy trial lawyers seeking to bankrupt the lawful firearm industry by blaming them and their lawfully-sold and non-defective products for the violence and harm caused by criminals who misuse firearms to commit their crimes.

“It’s no surprise California’s rabidly antigun General Assembly would pass and Governor Gavin Newsom would sign into law a blatantly unconstitutional attack on the lawful firearm industry instead of looking in the mirror to see how their own policies are leading to historic levels of criminal violence and endangering law-abiding and innocent Californians every day,” said NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Lawrence G. Keane. “NSSF will not stand by and allow the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans … to be trampled upon while criminals committing acts of violence are handled with kid gloves by soft-on-crime prosecutors. California’s industry liability law is in blatant defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bruen and is preempted by the PLCAA.”

In addition to the firearm industry liability provision, California’s AB 1594 bans the manufacture, sale, and marketing of firearms the state deems “abnormally dangerous” regardless of if they are commonly-owned. It allows civil lawsuits against a firearm industry member to be filed by a person who has suffered harm in California, the Attorney General, or even city or county attorneys for the harm caused by the criminal misuse of a firearm by a remote third party. The law unconstitutionally invades the sovereignty of sister states by directly regulating lawful commerce occurring entirely and wholly outside the state of California in violation of the Commerce Clause and the United States system of federalism.

NSSF’s challenge explains that AB 1594 is a law that was drafted prior to the Bruen decision and signed just weeks AFTER the Supreme Court published the landmark ruling. Rather than re-examining the legislation to ensure AB 1594 complied with Supreme Court precedent, California legislators ignored the Supreme Court’s decision and pushed AB 1594 through defiantly.

The NSSF argues that AB 1594 not only infringes on Second Amendment rights but chills First Amendment rights by restricting advertising of Constitutionally-protected products that are lawfully made and sold — even when that advertising takes place outside of California’s borders.