I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 123

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

JANUARY 3, 2001

Mr. BARR of Georgia 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 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) Citizens have a right, under the Second

2 Amendment to the United States Constitution, to

3 keep and bear arms.

4 (2) Lawsuits have been commenced against

5 manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and importers

6 of nondefective firearms, which seek money damages

7 and other relief for the harm caused by the misuse

8 of firearms by third parties, including criminals.

9 (3) The manufacture, importation, possession,

10 sale, and use of firearms and ammunition in the

11 United States is heavily regulated by Federal, State,

12 and local laws. Such Federal laws include the Gun

13 Control Act of 1968, the National Firearms Act,

14 and the Arms Export Control Act.

15 (4) Businesses in the United States that are en16 gaged in interstate and foreign commerce through

17 the lawful design, marketing, distribution, manufac18 ture, importation, or sale to the public of firearms

19 or ammunition that have been shipped or trans20 ported in interstate or foreign commerce are not,

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

22 those who criminally or unlawfully misuse firearm

23 products or ammunition products.

24 (5) The possibility of imposing liability on an

25 entire industry for harm that is the sole responsi-
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1 bility of others is an abuse of the legal system,

2 erodes public confidence our Nation’s laws, threatens

3 the diminution of a basic constitutional right, invites

4 the disassembly and destabilization of other indus5 tries and economic sectors lawfully competing in

6 America’s free enterprise system, and constitutes an

7 unreasonable burden on interstate and foreign com8 merce.

9 (6) The liability actions commenced or con10 templated by municipalities and cities are based on

11 theories without foundation in hundreds of years of

12 the common law and American jurisprudence. The

13 possible sustaining of these actions by a maverick

14 judicial officer would expand civil liability in a man15 ner never contemplated by the Framers of the Con16 stitution. The Congress further finds that such an

17 expansion of liability would constitute a deprivation

18 of the rights, privileges, and immunities guaranteed

19 to a citizen of the United States under the Four20 teenth Amendment to the United States Constitu21 tion.

22 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol23 lows:

24 (1) To prohibit causes of action against manu25 facturers, distributors, dealers, and importers of
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1 firearms or ammunition products for the harm

2 caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse of firearm

3 products or ammunition products by others.

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

5 firearms and ammunition for all lawful purposes, in6 cluding hunting, self-defense, collecting, and com7 petitive or recreational shooting.

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

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

10 Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Con11 stitution, pursuant to section five of that Amend12 ment.

13 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON BRINGING OF QUALIFIED CIVIL

14 LIABILITY ACTIONS IN FEDERAL OR STATE

15 COURT.

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

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

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

19 civil liability action that is pending on the date of the en20 actment of this Act shall be dismissed immediately by the

21 court in which the action was brought.

22 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

23 In this Act:

24 (1) MANUFACTURER.—The term ‘‘manufac25 turer’’ means, with respect to a qualified product—
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1 (A) a person who is engaged in a business

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

3 qualified product, and who designs or formu4 lates, or has engaged another person to design

5 or formulate, a qualified product;

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

7 with respect to an aspect of the product that is

8 made or affected when the seller makes, pro9 duces, creates, or assembles and designs or for10 mulates an aspect of the product made by an11 other person; and

12 (C) any seller of a qualified product who

13 represents to a user of a qualified product that

14 the seller is a manufacturer of the qualified

15 product.

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

17 individual, corporation, company, association, firm,

18 partnership, society, joint stock company, or any

19 other entity, including any governmental entity.

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

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

22 921(a)(3) of title 18, United States Code) or ammu23 nition (as defined in section 921(a)(17) of such

24 title), or a component part of a firearm or ammuni-
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1 tion, that has been shipped or transported in inter2 state or foreign commerce.

3 (4) QUALIFIED CIVIL LIABILITY ACTION.—The

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

5 action brought by any person against a manufac6 turer or seller of a qualified product, or a trade as7 sociation, for damages resulting from the criminal or

8 unlawful misuse of a qualified product by the person

9 or a third party, but shall not include—

10 (A) an action brought against a transferor

11 convicted under section 924(h) of title 18,

12 United States Code, or a comparable or iden13 tical State felony law, by a party directly

14 harmed by the conduct of which the transferee

15 is so convicted; or

16 (B) an action brought against a seller for

17 negligent entrustment or negligence per se.

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

19 respect to a qualified product, a person who—

20 (A) in the course of a business conducted

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

22 prepares, blends, packages, labels, or otherwise

23 is involved in placing a qualified product in the

24 stream of commerce; or
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1 (B) installs, repairs, refurbishes, recondi2 tions, or maintains an aspect of a qualified

3 product that is alleged to have resulted in dam4 ages.

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

6 the several States of the United States, the District

7 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the

8 Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the

9 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,

10 and any other territory or possession of the United

11 States, and any political subdivision of any such

12 place.

13 (7) TRADE ASSOCIATION.—The term ‘‘trade as14 sociation’’ means any association or business organi15 zation (whether or not incorporated under Federal

16 or State law) 2 or more members of which are man17 ufacturers or sellers of a qualified product.

Æ