I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1032

To prohibit civil liability actions from being brought or continued against

manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or importers of firearms or ammunition for damages resulting from the misuse of their products by others.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 9, 1999

Mr. BARR of Georgia (for himself, Mr. DELAY, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. YOUNG

of Alaska, Mr. GOODE, Mr. COLLINS, Mr. BARCIA, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr.

BURTON of Indiana, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. PICKERING, Mr. BASS, Mr.

SWEENEY, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. HALL of Texas, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr.

CHAMBLISS, Mr. ISAKSON, Mrs. CHENOWETH, Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr.

SKEEN, Mr. STEARNS, Mr. LATHAM, Mr. WATKINS, Mr. LINDER, Mr.

TANCREDO, and Mr. HEFLEY) introduced the following bill; which was

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To prohibit civil liability actions from being brought or continued against manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or

importers of firearms or ammunition for damages resulting from the misuse of their products by others.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Firearms Heritage

5 Protection Act of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES.

2 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:

3 (1) Citizens have a right, under the Second

4 Amendment to the United States Constitution, to

5 keep and bear arms.

6 (2) Lawsuits have been commenced against

7 manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and importers

8 of nondefective firearms, which seek money damages

9 and other relief for the harm caused by the misuse

10 of firearms by third parties, including criminals.

11 (3) The manufacture, importation, possession,

12 sale, and use of firearms and ammunition in the

13 United States is heavily regulated by Federal, State,

14 and local laws. Such Federal laws include the Gun

15 Control Act of 1968, the National Firearms Act,

16 and the Arms Export Control Act.

17 (4) Businesses in the United States that are en18 gaged in interstate and foreign commerce through

19 the lawful design, marketing, distribution, manufac20 ture, importation, or sale to the public of firearms

21 or ammunition that have been shipped or trans22 ported in interstate or foreign commerce are not,

23 and should not be, liable for the harm caused by

24 those who criminally or unlawfully misuse firearm

25 products or ammunition products.
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1 (5) The possibility of imposing liability on an

2 entire industry for harm that is the sole responsibil3 ity of others is an abuse of the legal system, erodes

4 public confidence our Nation’s laws, threatens the

5 diminution of a basic constitutional right, invites the

6 disassembly and destabilization of other industries

7 and economic sectors lawfully competing in Ameri8 ca’s free enterprise system, and constitutes an un9 reasonable burden on interstate and foreign com10 merce.

11 (6) The liability actions commenced or con12 templated by municipalities and cities are based on

13 theories without foundation in hundreds of years of

14 the common law and American jurisprudence. The

15 possible sustaining of these actions by a maverick

16 judicial officer would expand civil liability in a man17 ner never contemplated by the Framers of the Con18 stitution. The Congress further finds that such an

19 expansion of liability would constitute a deprivation

20 of the rights, privileges, and immunities guaranteed

21 to a citizen of the United States under the Four22 teenth Amendment to the United States Constitu23 tion.

24 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol25 lows:
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1 (1) To prohibit causes of action against manu2 facturers, distributors, dealers, and importers of

3 firearms or ammunition products for the harm

4 caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse of firearm

5 products or ammunition products by others.

6 (2) To preserve a citizen’s access to a supply of

7 firearms and ammunition for all lawful purposes, in8 cluding hunting, self-defense, collecting, and com9 petitive or recreational shooting.

10 (3) To guarantee a citizen’s rights, privileges,

11 and immunities, as applied to the States, under the

12 Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Con13 stitution, pursuant to section five of that Amend14 ment.

15 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON BRINGING OF QUALIFIED CIVIL

16 LIABILITY ACTIONS IN FEDERAL OR STATE

17 COURT.

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—A qualified civil liability action

19 may not be brought in any Federal or State court.

20 (b) DISMISSAL OF PENDING ACTIONS.—A qualified

21 civil liability action that is pending on the date of the en22 actment of this Act shall be dismissed immediately by the

23 court in which the action was brought.

24 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

25 In this Act:
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1 (1) MANUFACTURER.—The term ‘‘manufac2 turer’’ means, with respect to a qualified product—

3 (A) a person who is engaged in a business

4 to import, make, produce, create, or assemble a

5 qualified product, and who designs or formu6 lates, or has engaged another person to design

7 or formulate, a qualified product;

8 (B) a seller of a qualified product, but only

9 with respect to an aspect of the product that is

10 made or affected when the seller makes, pro11 duces, creates, or assembles and designs or for12 mulates an aspect of the product made by an13 other person; and

14 (C) any seller of a qualified product who

15 represents to a user of a qualified product that

16 the seller is a manufacturer of the qualified

17 product.

18 (2) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means any

19 individual, corporation, company, association, firm,

20 partnership, society, joint stock company, or any

21 other entity, including any governmental entity.

22 (3) QUALIFIED PRODUCT.—The term ‘‘qualified

23 product’’ means a firearm (as defined in section

24 921(a)(3) of title 18, United States Code) or ammu25 nition (as defined in section 921(a)(17) of such
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1 title), or a component part of a firearm or ammuni2 tion, that has been shipped or transported in inter3 state or foreign commerce.

4 (4) QUALIFIED CIVIL LIABILITY ACTION.—The

5 term ‘‘qualified civil liability action’’ means a civil

6 action brought by any person against a manufac7 turer or seller of a qualified product, or a trade as8 sociation, for damages resulting from the criminal or

9 unlawful misuse of a qualified product by the person

10 or a third party, but shall not include an action

11 brought against a transferor convicted under section

12 924(h) of title 18, United States Code, or a com13 parable or identical State felony law, by a party di14 rectly harmed by the conduct of which the transferee

15 is so convicted.

16 (5) SELLER.—The term ‘‘seller’’ means, with

17 respect to a qualified product, a person who—

18 (A) in the course of a business conducted

19 for that purpose sells, distributes, rents, leases,

20 prepares, blends, packages, labels, or otherwise

21 is involved in placing a qualified product in the

22 stream of commerce; or

23 (B) installs, repairs, refurbishes, recondi24 tions, or maintains an aspect of a qualified
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1 product that is alleged to have resulted in dam2 ages.

3 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes each of

4 the several States of the United States, the District

5 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the

6 Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the

7 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,

8 and any other territory or possession of the United

9 States, and any political subdivision of any such

10 place.

11 (7) TRADE ASSOCIATION.—The term ‘‘trade as12 sociation’’ means any association or business organi13 zation (whether or not incorporated under Federal

14 or State law) 2 or more members of which are man15 ufacturers or sellers of a qualified product.

Æ