Tennessee Creates ‘Second Amendment Sanctuary,’ Protecting Firearms Industry From Weaponized Lawsuits

As gunmakers flee an increasingly inhospitable environment in blue states, Tennessee lawmakers took action this month to protect the state’s firearms industry from a proliferation of “weaponized” lawsuits.

On April 15, the Tennessee General Assembly passed House Bill 873 / Senate Bill 1360, which shields manufacturers and sellers of guns, ammunition, and other weapons from lawsuits over the criminal misuse of their products by a third party. The legislation was approved by an overwhelming majority in both houses.

Tennessee is the home of manufacturers and sellers such as Beretta USA, Smith & Wesson, TROY Industries, and Barrett Firearms Manufacturing.

“There’s a rabid anti-gun climate, primarily among Democrats, but even other nations that want to be able to fund continuous lawsuits against American firearms manufacturers,” Republican state Rep. Monty Fritts, who sponsored the bill in the Tennessee House, told The Daily Signal. “We’ve seen over the last decade just a continuous attempt to litigate, often after some horrible tragedy has taken place, and they want to hold the firearms manufacturer accountable for any evil person.”

In addition to successful lawsuits against gunmakers Remington Firearms and Bushmaster Firearms by U.S. plaintiffs, Mexico is currently suing U.S. gunmakers as well, blaming them for the rise of drug cartel-related violence. Mexico’s suit is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court.

“With this law, radical anti-gun groups can no longer weaponize courts in California or New York to attack the Second Amendment industry in Tennessee,” Erich Pratt, senior vice president of Gun Owners of America, stated. The Second Amendment advocacy group assisted lawmakers in drafting the Tennessee bill, which they hope can become a model for other states.

The bill expands the protections the state had already put in place in 2023, which aligned state laws with the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act of 2005. Both the federal law and Tennessee law provide broad immunity from “qualified civil liability actions”—or suits based on illegal acts by third parties—against gun manufacturers and sellers.

Tennessee law currently stipulates that plaintiffs can only sue a gun manufacturer or dealer in the state if it can be proved that it directly caused harm; for example, by selling defective products or knowingly selling a weapon to someone who has criminal intent.

This new bill expands those protections by, among other things, prohibiting state courts from enforcing out-of-state or foreign court judgments against those entities if the judgments conflict with Tennessee laws. And as a further deterrent, the new bill stipulates that plaintiffs must pay gunmakers or dealers three times the damages cited in their suit, plus attorneys fees, if the lawsuit violates Tennessee laws.

The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, like Tennessee’s law, provides exceptions for immunity if gunmakers or sellers act negligently, violate state or federal laws, or knowingly sell to buyers who intend to use the weapons to commit crimes.

To escape increasingly restrictive gun control laws and jurisdictions with courts friendly to anti-gun lawsuits, at least 20 firearms manufacturers—several with century-long histories operating in the Northeast—have abandoned Democrat-run states for more friendly jurisdictions in the South, according to The Washington Post.

Beretta USA moved its gun manufacturing facilities and hundreds of jobs from Maryland to Tennessee in 2015, citing Maryland’s restrictive gun laws. In 2021, after operating for 170 years in Massachusetts, Smith & Wesson moved its operations to Tennessee because of laws that would “prevent Smith & Wesson from manufacturing firearms that are legal in almost every state,” the company’s CEO, Mark Smith, stated. 

The firearms industry in Tennessee currently provides about 13,500 jobs and contributes more than $3.6 billion to the state’s economy, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Tennessee lawmakers hope this bill will incentivize more gunmakers to relocate to their state.

Currently, 32 states either provide immunity to the gun industry similar to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act or prohibit local governments from suing firearms companies, according to Giffords Law Center, which advocates for gun control. House Bill 873 / Senate Bill 1360 now awaits Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s signature, and if signed, will take effect on July 1.

The post Tennessee Creates ‘Second Amendment Sanctuary,’ Protecting Firearms Industry From Weaponized Lawsuits appeared first on The Daily Signal.