II 

Calendar No. 363

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1805

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 31, 2003

Mr. CRAIG introduced the following bill; which was read the first time 

NOVEMBER 3, 2003

Read the second time and placed on the calendar 

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 ‘‘Protection of Lawful 

5 Commerce in Arms Act’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES. 

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

3 (1) Citizens have a right, protected by the Sec4 ond Amendment to the United States Constitution, 

5 to keep and bear arms. 

6 (2) Lawsuits have been commenced against 

7 manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and importers 

8 of firearms that operate as designed and intended, 

9 which seek money damages and other relief for the 

10 harm caused by the misuse of firearms by third par11 ties, including criminals. 

12 (3) The manufacture, importation, possession, 

13 sale, and use of firearms and ammunition in the 

14 United States are heavily regulated by Federal, 

15 State, and local laws. Such Federal laws include the 

16 Gun Control Act of 1968, the National Firearms 

17 Act, and the Arms Export Control Act. 

18 (4) Businesses in the United States that are en19 gaged in interstate and foreign commerce through 

20 the lawful design, manufacture, marketing, distribu21 tion, importation, or sale to the public of firearms or 

22 ammunition that has been shipped or transported in 

23 interstate or foreign commerce are not, and should 

24 not, be liable for the harm caused by those who 

25 criminally or unlawfully misuse firearm products or 
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1 ammunition products that function as designed and 

2 intended. 

3 (5) The possibility of imposing liability on an 

4 entire industry for harm that is solely caused by oth5 ers is an abuse of the legal system, erodes public 

6 confidence in our Nation’s laws, threatens the dimi7 nution of a basic constitutional right and civil lib8 erty, invites the disassembly and destabilization of 

9 other industries and economic sectors lawfully com10 peting in the free enterprise system of the United 

11 States, and constitutes an unreasonable burden on 

12 interstate and foreign commerce of the United 

13 States. 

14 (6) The liability actions commenced or con15 templated by the Federal Government, States, mu16 nicipalities, and private interest groups are based on 

17 theories without foundation in hundreds of years of 

18 the common law and jurisprudence of the United 

19 States and do not represent a bona fide expansion 

20 of the common law. The possible sustaining of these 

21 actions by a maverick judicial officer or petit jury 

22 would expand civil liability in a manner never con23 templated by the framers of the Constitution, by 

24 Congress, or by the legislatures of the several 

25 States. Such an expansion of liability would con-
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1 stitute a deprivation of the rights, privileges, and 

2 immunities guaranteed to a citizen of the United 

3 States under the Fourteenth Amendment to the 

4 United States Constitution. 

5 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol6 lows: 

7 (1) To prohibit causes of action against manu8 facturers, distributors, dealers, and importers of 

9 firearms or ammunition products for the harm 

10 caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse of firearm 

11 products or ammunition products by others when 

12 the product functioned as designed and intended. 

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

14 firearms and ammunition for all lawful purposes, in15 cluding hunting, self-defense, collecting, and com16 petitive or recreational shooting. 

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

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

19 Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Con20 stitution, pursuant to section 5 of that Amendment. 

21 (4) To prevent the use of such lawsuits to im22 pose unreasonable burdens on interstate and foreign 

23 commerce.

24 (5) To protect the right, under the First 

25 Amendment to the Constitution, of manufacturers, 
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1 distributors, dealers, and importers of firearms or 

2 ammunition products, and trade associations, to 

3 speak freely, to assemble peaceably, and to petition 

4 the Government for a redress of their grievances. 

5 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON BRINGING OF QUALIFIED CIVIL 

6 LIABILITY ACTIONS IN FEDERAL OR STATE 

7 COURT. 

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

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

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

11 civil liability action that is pending on the date of enact12 ment of this Act shall be immediately dismissed by the 

13 court in which the action was brought. 

14 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

15 In this Act, the following definitions shall apply: 

16 (1) ENGAGED IN THE BUSINESS.—The term 

17 ‘‘engaged in the business’’ has the meaning given 

18 that term in section 921(a)(21) of title 18, United 

19 States Code, and, as applied to a seller of ammuni20 tion, means a person who devotes, time, attention, 

21 and labor to the sale of ammunition as a regular 

22 course of trade or business with the principal objec23 tive of livelihood and profit through the sale or dis24 tribution of ammunition. 
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1 (2) MANUFACTURER.—The term ‘‘manufac2 turer’’ means, with respect to a qualified product, a 

3 person who is engaged in the business of manufac4 turing the product in interstate or foreign commerce 

5 and who is licensed to engage in business as such a 

6 manufacturer under chapter 44 of title 18, United 

7 States Code. 

8 (3) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means any 

9 individual, corporation, company, association, firm, 

10 partnership, society, joint stock company, or any 

11 other entity, including any governmental entity. 

12 (4) QUALIFIED PRODUCT.—The term ‘‘qualified 

13 product’’ means a firearm (as defined in subpara14 graph (A) or (B) of section 921(a)(3) of title 18, 

15 United States Code), including any antique firearm 

16 (as defined in section 921(a)(16) of such title), or 

17 ammunition (as defined in section 921(a)(17)(A) of 

18 such title), or a component part of a firearm or am19 munition, that has been shipped or transported in 

20 interstate or foreign commerce. 

21 (5) QUALIFIED CIVIL LIABILITY ACTION.—

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘qualified 

23 civil liability action’’ means a civil action 

24 brought by any person against a manufacturer 

25 or seller of a qualified product, or a trade asso-
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1 ciation, for damages resulting from the criminal 

2 or unlawful misuse of a qualified product by the 

3 person or a third party, but shall not include—

4 (i) an action brought against a trans5 feror convicted under section 924(h) of 

6 title 18, United States Code, or a com7 parable or identical State felony law, by a 

8 party directly harmed by the conduct of 

9 which the transferee is so convicted; 

10 (ii) an action brought against a seller 

11 for negligent entrustment or negligence per 

12 se; 

13 (iii) an action in which a manufac14 turer or seller of a qualified product vio15 lated a State or Federal statute applicable 

16 to the sale or marketing of the product, 

17 and the violation was a proximate cause of 

18 the harm for which relief is sought, includ19 ing—

20 (I) any case in which the manu21 facturer or seller knowingly made any 

22 false entry in, or failed to make ap23 propriate entry in, any record re24 quired to be kept under Federal or 

25 State law; 
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1 (II) any case in which the manu2 facturer or seller aided, abetted, or 

3 conspired with any person in making 

4 any false or fictitious oral or written 

5 statement with respect to any fact 

6 material to the lawfulness of the sale 

7 or other disposition of a qualified 

8 product; or 

9 (III) any case in which the man10 ufacturer or seller aided, abetted, or 

11 conspired with any other person to 

12 sell or otherwise dispose of a qualified 

13 product, knowing, or having reason14 able cause to believe, that the actual 

15 buyer of the qualified product was 

16 prohibited from possessing or receiv17 ing a firearm or ammunition under 

18 subsection (g) or (n) of section 922 of 

19 title 18, United States Code; 

20 (iv) an action for breach of contract 

21 or warranty in connection with the pur22 chase of the product; or 

23 (v) an action for physical injuries or 

24 property damage resulting directly from a 

25 defect in design or manufacture of the 
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1 product, when used as intended or in a 

2 manner that is reasonably foreseeable. 

3 (B) NEGLIGENT ENTRUSTMENT.—As used 

4 in subparagraph (A)(ii), the term ‘‘negligent en5 trustment’’ means the supplying of a qualified 

6 product by a seller for use by another person 

7 when the seller knows, or should know, the per8 son to whom the product is supplied is likely to, 

9 and does, use the product in a manner involving 

10 unreasonable risk of physical injury to the per11 son or others. 

12 (C) REASONABLY FORESEEABLE.—As used 

13 in subparagraph (A)(v), the term ‘‘reasonably 

14 foreseeable’’ does not include any criminal or 

15 unlawful misuse of a qualified product, other 

16 than possessory offenses. 

17 (D) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—The excep18 tions described in subparagraph (A) shall be 

19 construed so as not to be in conflict and no pro20 vision of this Act shall be construed to create 

21 a Federal private cause of action or remedy. 

22 (6) SELLER.—The term ‘‘seller’’ means, with 

23 respect to a qualified product—

24 (A) an importer (as defined in section 

25 921(a)(9) of title 18, United States Code) who 
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1 is engaged in the business as such an importer 

2 in interstate or foreign commerce and who is li3 censed to engage in business as such an im4 porter under chapter 44 of title 18, United 

5 States Code; 

6 (B) a dealer (as defined in section 

7 921(a)(11) of title 18, United States Code) who 

8 is engaged in the business as such a dealer in 

9 interstate or foreign commerce and who is li10 censed to engage in business as such a dealer 

11 under chapter 44 of title 18, United States 

12 Code; or 

13 (C) a person engaged in the business of 

14 selling ammunition (as defined in section 

15 921(a)(17) of title 18, United States Code) in 

16 interstate or foreign commerce at the wholesale 

17 or retail level, who is in compliance with all ap18 plicable Federal, State, and local laws. 

19 (7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes each of 

20 the several States of the United States, the District 

21 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the 

22 Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the 

23 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 

24 and any other territory or possession of the United 
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1 States, and any political subdivision of any such 

2 place. 

3 (8) TRADE ASSOCIATION.—The term ‘‘trade as4 sociation’’ means any association or business organi5 zation (whether or not incorporated under Federal 

6 or State law)—

7 (A) that is not operated for profit; 

8 (B) of which 2 or more members are man9 ufacturers or sellers of a qualified product; and 

10 (C) that is involved in promoting the busi11 ness interests of its members, including orga12 nizing, advising, or representing its members 

13 with respect to their business, legislative or 

14 legal activities in relation to the manufacture, 

15 importation, or sale of a qualified product. 

16 (9) UNLAWFUL MISUSE.—The term ‘‘unlawful 

17 misuse’’ means conduct that violates a statute, ordi18 nance, or regulation as it relates to the use of a 

19 qualified product.
Calendar No. 363

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1805

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. 

NOVEMBER 3, 2003

Read the second time and placed on the calendar