II 

Calendar No. 364

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1806

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) 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 know15 ingly and willfully violated a State or Fed16 eral statute applicable to the sale or mar17 keting of the product, and the violation 

18 was a proximate cause of the harm for 

19 which relief is sought; 

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 
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1 defect in design or manufacture of the 

2 product, when used as intended. 

3 (B) NEGLIGENT ENTRUSTMENT.—In sub4 paragraph (A)(ii), the term ‘‘negligent entrust5 ment’’ means the supplying of a qualified prod6 uct by a seller for use by another person when 

7 the seller knows, or should know, the person to 

8 whom the product is supplied is likely to, and 

9 does, use the product in a manner involving un10 reasonable risk of physical injury to the person 

11 and others. 

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

13 respect to a qualified product—

14 (A) an importer (as defined in section 

15 921(a)(9) of title 18, United States Code) who 

16 is engaged in the business as such an importer 

17 in interstate or foreign commerce and who is li18 censed to engage in business as such an im19 porter under chapter 44 of title 18, United 

20 States Code; 

21 (B) a dealer (as defined in section 

22 921(a)(11) of title 18, United States Code) who 

23 is engaged in the business as such a dealer in 

24 interstate or foreign commerce and who is li25 censed to engage in business as such a dealer 
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1 under chapter 44 of title 18, United States 

2 Code; or 

3 (C) a person engaged in the business of 

4 selling ammunition (as defined in section 

5 921(a)(17) of title 18, United States Code) in 

6 interstate or foreign commerce at the wholesale 

7 or retail level, consistent with Federal, State, 

8 and local law. 

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

10 the several States of the United States, the District 

11 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the 

12 Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the 

13 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 

14 and any other territory or possession of the United 

15 States, and any political subdivision of any such 

16 place. 

17 (8) TRADE ASSOCIATION.—The term ‘‘trade as18 sociation’’ means any association or business organi19 zation (whether or not incorporated under Federal 

20 or State law) that is not operated for profit, and 2 

21 or more members of which are manufacturers or 

22 sellers of a qualified product.
Calendar No. 364

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1806

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