108TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1036
AN ACT
To prohibit civil liability actions from being brought or con-
tinued against manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or
importers of firearms or ammunition for damages result-
ing from the misuse of their products by others.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protection of Lawful
Commerce in Arms Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
(1) Citizens have a right, protected by the Sec-
ond Amendment to the United States Constitution,
to keep and bear arms.
(2) Lawsuits have been commenced against
manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and importers
of firearms that operate as designed and intended,
which seek money damages and other relief for the
harm caused by the misuse of firearms by third par-
ties, including criminals.
(3) The manufacture, importation, possession,
sale, and use of firearms and ammunition in the
United States are heavily regulated by Federal,
State, and local laws. Such Federal laws include the
Gun Control Act of 1968, the National Firearms
Act, and the Arms Export Control Act.
(4) Businesses in the United States that are en-
gaged in interstate and foreign commerce through
the lawful design, manufacture, marketing, distribu-
tion, importation, or sale to the public of firearms or
ammunition that has been shipped or transported in
interstate or foreign commerce are not, and should
not, be liable for the harm caused by those who
criminally or unlawfully misuse firearm products or
ammunition products that function as designed and
intended.
(5) The possibility of imposing liability on an
entire industry for harm that is solely caused by oth-
ers is an abuse of the legal system, erodes public
confidence in our Nation’s laws, threatens the dimi-
nution of a basic constitutional right and civil lib-
erty, invites the disassembly and destabilization of
other industries and economic sectors lawfully com-
peting in the free enterprise system of the United
States, and constitutes an unreasonable burden on
interstate and foreign commerce of the United
States.
(6) The liability actions commenced or con-
templated by the Federal Government, States, mu-
nicipalities, and private interest groups are based on
theories without foundation in hundreds of years of
the common law and jurisprudence of the United
States and do not represent a bona fide expansion
of the common law. The possible sustaining of these
actions by a maverick judicial officer or petit jury
would expand civil liability in a manner never con-
templated by the Framers of the Constitution, by
the Congress, or by the legislatures of the several
states. Such an expansion of liability would con-
stitute a deprivation of the rights, privileges, and
immunities guaranteed to a citizen of the United
States under the Fourteenth Amendment to the
United States Constitution.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol-
lows:
(1) To prohibit causes of action against manu-
facturers, distributors, dealers, and importers of
firearms or ammunition products for the harm
caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse of firearm
products or ammunition products by others when
the product functioned as designed and intended.
(2) To preserve a citizen’s access to a supply of
firearms and ammunition for all lawful purposes, in-
cluding hunting, self-defense, collecting, and com-
petitive or recreational shooting.
(3) To guarantee a citizen’s rights, privileges,
and immunities, as applied to the States, under the
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Con-
stitution, pursuant to section 5 of that Amendment.
(4) To prevent the use of such lawsuits to im-
pose unreasonable burdens on interstate and foreign
commerce.
(5) To protect the right, under the First
Amendment to the Constitution, of manufacturers,
distributors, dealers, and importers of firearms or
ammunition products, and trade associations, to
speak freely, to assemble peaceably, and to petition
the Government for a redress of their grievances.
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON BRINGING OF QUALIFIED CIVIL
LIABILITY ACTIONS IN FEDERAL OR STATE
COURT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—A qualified civil liability action
may not be brought in any Federal or State court.
(b) DISMISSAL OF PENDING ACTIONS.—A qualified
civil liability action that is pending on the date of the en-
actment of this Act shall be dismissed immediately by the
court in which the action was brought or is currently pend-
ing.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) ENGAGED
IN
THE
BUSINESS.—The term
‘‘engaged in the business’’ has the meaning given
that term in section 921(a)(21) of title 18, United
States Code, and, as applied to a seller of ammuni-
tion, means a person who devotes, time, attention,
and labor to the sale of ammunition as a regular
course of trade or business with the principal objec-
tive of livelihood and profit through the sale or dis-
tribution of ammunition.
(2) MANUFACTURER.—The term ‘‘manufac-
turer’’ means, with respect to a qualified product, a
person who is engaged in the business of manufac-
turing the product in interstate or foreign commerce
and who is licensed to engage in business as such a
manufacturer under chapter 44 of title 18, United
States Code.
(3) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means any
individual, corporation, company, association, firm,
partnership, society, joint stock company, or any
other entity, including any governmental entity.
(4) QUALIFIED PRODUCT.—The term ‘‘qualified
product’’ means a firearm (as defined in subpara-
graph (A) or (B) of section 921(a)(3) of title 18,
United States Code, including any antique firearm
(as defined in section 921(a)(16) of such title)), or
ammunition (as defined in section 921(a)(17) of
such title), or a component part of a firearm or am-
munition, that has been shipped or transported in
interstate or foreign commerce.
(5) QUALIFIED CIVIL LIABILITY ACTION.—
(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘‘qualified
civil liability action’’ means a civil action
brought by any person against a manufacturer
or seller of a qualified product, or a trade asso-
ciation, for damages or injunctive relief result-
ing from the criminal or unlawful misuse of a
qualified product by the person or a third
party, but shall not include—
(i) an action brought against a trans-
feror convicted under section 924(h) of
title 18, United States Code, or a com-
parable or identical State felony law, by a
party directly harmed by the conduct of
which the transferee is so convicted;
(ii) an action brought against a seller
for negligent entrustment or negligence per
se;
(iii) an action in which a manufac-
turer or seller of a qualified product know-
ingly and willfully violated a State or Fed-
eral statute applicable to the sale or mar-
keting of the product, and the violation
was a proximate cause of the harm for
which relief is sought;
(iv) an action for breach of contract
or warranty in connection with the pur-
chase of the product; or
(v) an action for physical injuries or
property damage resulting directly from a
defect in design or manufacture of the
product, when used as intended.
(B) NEGLIGENT ENTRUSTMENT.—In sub-
paragraph (A)(ii), the term ‘‘negligent entrust-
ment’’ means the supplying of a qualified prod-
uct by a seller for use by another person when
the seller knows or should know the person to
whom the product is supplied is likely to use
the product, and in fact does use the product,
in a manner involving unreasonable risk of
physical injury to the person and others.
(6) SELLER.—The term ‘‘seller’’ means, with
respect to a qualified product—
(A) an importer (as defined in section
921(a)(9) of title 18, United States Code) who
is engaged in the business as such an importer
in interstate or foreign commerce and who is li-
censed to engage in business as such an im-
porter under chapter 44 of title 18, United
States Code;
(B) a dealer (as defined in section
921(a)(11) of title 18, United States Code) who
is engaged in the business as such a dealer in
interstate or foreign commerce and who is li-
censed to engage in business as such a dealer
under chapter 44 of title 18, United States
Code; or
(C) a person engaged in the business of
selling ammunition (as defined in section
921(a)(17) of title 18, United States Code) in
interstate or foreign commerce at the wholesale
or retail level, consistent with Federal, State,
and local law.
(7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes each of
the several States of the United States, the District
of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the
Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,
and any other territory or possession of the United
States, and any political subdivision of any such
place.
(8) TRADE ASSOCIATION.—The term ‘‘trade as-
sociation’’ means any association or business organi-
zation (whether or not incorporated under Federal
or State law) that is not operated for profit, and 2
or more members of which are manufacturers or
sellers of a qualified product.
Passed the House of Representatives April 9, 2003.
Attest:
Clerk.