In 2005, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders voted for the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA). Hillary Clinton has seized on this vote to paint her rival for the Democratic nomination as “soft on guns.” According to Clinton, the PLCAA is a special interest carve-out preventing the victims of “gun violence” from holding gunmakers legally responsible “when their gun kill our children.”As you’d expect, this “debate” is almost completely fact-free. Here’s what the PLCAA does and doesn’t do [via wikipedia.org] . . .
The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) is a United States law which protects firearms manufacturers and dealers from being held liable when crimes have been committed with their products.
Despite Democratic rhetoric, this is no different from the protections afforded the automobile and pharmaceutical industries. Automakers are not held legally responsible for drunk drivers and drug companies are not responsible for addiction or overdose. If they were, these industries couldn’t afford to produce their goods and services. Period.
Here’s what the PLCAA doesn’t do:
Both manufacturers and dealers can still be held liable for damages resulting from defective products, breach of contract, criminal misconduct, and other actions for which they are directly responsible in much the same manner that any U.S. based manufacturer of consumer products are held responsible. They may also be held liable for negligence when they have reason to know a gun is intended for use in a crime.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) may fine or close a manufacturer for illegal practices, such as the aforementioned distribution to known criminals (excluding guns bought by the U.S. government to distribute to dictators, “freedom fighters,” corrupt police and military forces, etc.) In short, gunmakers are not above the law.
Neither Hillary Clinton nor President Obama nor (now) Bernie Sanders have explained how repealing the PLCAA would prevent “gun violence.” How would crushingly expensive lawsuits against gunmakers stop the illegal use of their products? What could a gunmaker do — that they aren’t doing now — to prevent criminal use?
Smart guns! Repealing the PLCAA would pave the way for the government-enabled shysters to force the firearms industry to only produce guns that won’t fire unless the gun’s [at this point theoretical] on-board electronic system “recognizes” the [presumably] government-authorized user. If your gun isn’t smart we’ll see you in court! Bankruptcy court.
Regardless of the arguments for or against “smart guns,” mandating the technology via the threat of legal action won’t stop criminal use of the gun industry’s products. Setting aside the obvious possibility of hacking or disabling a “smart guns” personalization system, ignoring the idea of off-the-grid “dumb gun” manufacture, there are currently some 300m “dumb guns” in circulation. Their useful life is measured in dozens of decades.
I doubt Democrats have thought that far. (Sorry for laying it out for them but there it is.) All these anti-gun rights politicians know is that their base hears the words “lobby” and immediately accept the idea that the Dems are all that stands between them and an amoral profit-driven conspiracy of one sort or another. Oil lobby! Gun lobby! Hobby lobby! The fact that there’s a law “protecting” the “gun lobby” is proof positive that they’re evil. Ipso facto.
Truth be told, the American firearms industry is already accountable to both government regulation (via the ATF) and the free market (via competition). So what do Hillary Clinton and her anti-gun rights supporters really want from the civilian firearms industry? What does the word “accountable” really mean? To paraphrase the alien in Independence Day, they want it to die. That is all.
Can we just have a vote in the United States to put her in federal prison and if we beat 50% of the United States vote for her to be brought up on charges she gets arrested???LmaoJust a thought Remember to vote for Donald Trump In November Please Pretty please!
+100000000
I wouldn’t vote for that know-nothing meglomaniac for Chief of the Hekawi Tribe from “F Troop”, let alone for President of the United States.
If that dolt gets the nomination, then come November, conservatives and libertarians will stay away in droves and we’ll forfeit to Hillary.
Oh, well. Maybe we’ll get some sense in 2020, then.
I think you might be right. The only bright spot is adding 4 years of this blood sucking leech on top of 8 years of Obama failure might finally do enough damage that conservatives and libertarians will finally give up on these bullshit artists and get behind a honest liberty oriented candidate.
They hate that law because it prevents “social justice” crusaders from suing the gun industry into oblivion. Hopefully someone will jackslap this twit with that one day.
Desperation. It smells good on her.
“Desperation. It smells good on her.”
No, it doesn’t. It smells rank.
Desperation is dangerous. It leads to unpredictable actions.
Then we should hold Car industry for everyone that dies in a car wreck, the baseball bat industry for everyone beat to death with a bat, and the tool company for everyone killed with a hammer, wrench or knife.. Or heck be like England and Band Pocket Knifes and require registration for buying plastic knifes.. And most of all.. Politicians to be kept to their word when they run for office then switch their views when it’s convenient for them. What like Hillary did.. The last time she ran she was progun.. Now she’s antigun… And smart guns.. please.. haven’t they heard about hacking..
I’d settle for holding politicians accountable for their actions, especially when those actions lead pretty much directly to getting embassy personnel killed.
“The fact that there’s a law “protecting” the “gun lobby” is proof positive that they’re evil.”
Can you say “sovereign immunity,” boys and girls? Now there’s evil.
“Then we should hold Car industry for everyone that dies in a car wreck,”
No, they want to hold gun manufacturers liable for criminal or negligent use of guns.
To be consistent, auto manufacturers must be held liable if a car you once owned was used by a drunk driver to kill or maim an innocent.
Informative perspective on PLCAA. We ain’t heard the last of this. Thanks.
The ‘deeper pockets’ aspect of U.S. legal justice is just a bottom 20% Law School employment policy.
Oh, and the outrage when Lucky Gunner won the lawsuit brought against them by the folks in CO who tried to sue them for [legally] selling the [legal] ammo to the [then-legal] purchaser who shot up the movie theater in Aurora. Sooooooo horrible that these gun and ammo companies are “above the law” and not subject to liability.
On the flip side, if you were to suggest to any of the people making these claims that gas stations should be held liable for selling the gas to somebody who later drives drunk, or that the manufacturer of whatever car the person was driving should be held liable for that, they’d look at you like you had two heads and tell you that you’re completely insane. But guns and ammo? No, no. They should be liable for the exact same freaking sort of thing. Because guns.
Gas station–Good analogy. I wonder why the damned PI lawyers haven’t tried to hold THEM liable, BTW–evil oil companies, you know…
If the DUI problem occurred at night, shouldn’t we sue the manufacturer of the car’s headlights?
Well duh! Clearly its the Alcohol producers that need to be sued.
As I understand it bartenders can be held liable for selling to patrons who are already obviously drunk, including being held responsible for actions committed after they leave the bar, but this is the same criteria that is mentioned about gun sellers/manufacturers who knowingly sell to someone with criminal intent.
Alcohol manufacturers, however, are not responsible for what bars or liquor stores do with their product.
The reason the law exists is because guns are the ONLY product where if someone misuses it, people blame the object and not the idiot who misused it. No one tries to sue Black & Decker because someone uses a tool to injure / kill someone, no one sues Ford or Budweiser because someone was drunk driving and crashed into someone, etc.
There it is again…”killed BY guns”, not killed WITH guns”. Somebody tell this hag once and for all that guns are inanimate objects, that people are no more killed BY them than her hair is styled BY scissors, or BY a blow-dryer. I’m fairly certain even her hairdresser understands this.
There is a journalistic style guide that advises using “killed by guns” for the emotional impact. It actually says it openly too. TTAG had a piece on it once.
If I did what Hillary did with her work emails I’d have lost my career and probably been put in jail.
I want to see her held accountable. Just like I would be if it was me. I don’t even understand how she can be allowed to run for government office after so egregiously violating government rules. People have been fired and put in jail for much less.
-D
Actually, the manufacturers of the physical server and the e-mail server with which she conducted her illegal communications should be fined or arrested. After all, it’s their fault right? Victims of computer stalking need to go after Apple and Dell, and victims of phishing schemes should sue Gateway. That seems to be the “reasoning” of these nitwits.
When someone tries to argue this issue…I declare I have rock solid evidence of why this protection is needed. “Breast Implants” is what I say, and wait for the varied reactions it elicits.
I then explain that once upon a time women had silicone breast implants installed. After some time, they blamed them for every ailment under the sun…and sued the manufacturer. And won. So often and so much, that the manufacturer had to file bankruptcy. There’s just one teeny problem with the story…as we now know through countless medical studies–silicone is harmless. So harmless that the FDA removed their ban on them and (re) approved them for use. The moral of this story is, I note, that a group of people went to court and lied and bilked a company out of millions of dollars inappropriately. Despite any factual evidence to support their claim. This was not use but ABUSE of the courts, I say. The courts should not be used in this manner. The breast implant industry needed such protection. (some would argue for multiple reasons).
Of course the responses to this vary. Some take the arrogant approach and say something to the effect of ‘well, if it puts the gun manufacturers out of business..great’. At that point it’s like Goodwin’s Law has been invoked…you know there is no point in any further discussion and you just move on. Every once in a while, you may prove your point in an amusing way.
So does HRC advocate having car makers and by extension the UAW pay for deaths and injuries from auto accidents? How about farmers and food processors pay for people who die from eating disorders? Could she file charges against her favorite grocery store chain for the size of her cankles?
Any day is a good day for socialists or Democrats to attack private industry. Unless of course, the execs are big donors.
The entire notion of “we can hold you liable”…. blah, blah, is so utterly disgusting, it couldn’t get any worse if the Caliphate just took over the whole shebang. It’s all just rock bottom shit anyway.
I totally agree with her that it is time to pick a side. However, I totally disagree with her choice of sides.
We need everyone who believes in the Constitution and the 2nd Amendment to get out and vote for anybody but Hillary in the next election.
I just threw up in my mouth a little.
Speaking of accountability, what wouldn’t I give to hold the Demons accountable for all the harm they have done. America’s prisons would be so overcrowded, they would have to release all the minor felons to make room for these major felons.
How about we hold the firearms industry to the same level of responsibility as BLM, muslims and the Clintons.
Nice bit of ‘othering’ in that video…. When THEIR guns kill OUR children.
She just said that ‘her’ children are more important than anyone else’s kids. She just said that those who support her are more important than those who don’t. SHe just said that some animals are more equal than others and said it proudly.
She needs to be called out on this arrogance. She needs this kind of elitism pointed out frequently, often, and loudly.
Missed the edit window so I’ll just reply…… the comments are still turned on over on the youtube link!… quick! Reply now before they figure out their mistake!
Way more things ( lies, malfeasance in office, cover ups, treason ) that she needs to be called out on and held accountable for first.
#HILLARYFORPRISON 2016
Nicely stated, Chip.
If he stands up to her, it will be a political win for him
Then we can blame the auto industry for all the highway deaths, all the food makers for all the fat people, the educational system for all the stupid people, drug makers for the people who OD.
An average of 90 people per day killed “by” guns.
An average of 1674 people per day killed by heart disease.
Maybe we should have a lesson on ROI…..
Approximately 1100 medically related fatalities each DAY in the US. Assuming that there are other medically related deaths that go unreported, this is a conservative number. What about this elephant in the room?
Why doesn’t anyone give a shit when pharmaceutical companies products injure, maim, and kill children? In 1986 a law was passed she idling vaccine manufactures, and the people that dispense them, 100% immune from all liability. Does that sound like the government is trying to protect the children?
“these industries couldn’t afford to produce their goods and services. Period.”
This statement does not even fall into “that’s not a bug, it’s a feature” territory. That is precisely the goal, the only goal, the STATED goal of these terrorists, they don’t even plan to win a single lawsuit, just bankrupt the industry with court costs.