The court decision comes a day after the shooting at an elementary school in the southern state that killed 21 people. It seeks to hold manufacturers “accountable” for armed massacres
FILE PHOTO: A protester calls for gun control in the US (REUTERS/Eric Thayer)
More than a dozen arms manufacturing companies lost this Wednesday a privilege that gave them legal immunity in New York against victims of shootings and may be sued in cases related to gun violence, a federal judge ruled.
The law allows the state of New York, its administrations locals and citizens denounce gun sellers, manufacturers, distributors and promoters for causing a“public harm”, a technical concept that is interpreted as creating conditions of “danger to public safety and health”.
Manufacturers such as Glock, Beretta and Smith & Wesson, as well as the pressure group National Shooting Sports Foundation, had asked that the state law that came into force in 2021 be paralyzed and declared unconstitutional, whose objective is that they can be “responsible civilly” for damages to society.
< /p>Generic image of weapons in the US (REUTERS/Lucas Jackson)
The decision of theJudge Mae D’Agostino, of a court in Albany -the capital of New York- occurs one day after the shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde (Texas), < /b>where an 18-year-old killed 19 children and two teachers, and which happens to be one of the deadliest in the country.
The The massacre increased pressure on US politicians to take action on gun accessibility, thoughthere is a grim expectation that there may be little or no change.< /p>
Manufacturers and their employers had been trying for months to paralyze that gun control legislation -approved by former Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo- with a motion that was dismissed today by the judge, who agreed with the authorities and ordered the closure of the case, according to the document reviewed by the EFE agency.
< /p>FILE PHOTO. A man inspects a gun during the NRA annual meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana (REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo)
The New York prosecutor, Letitia James, reacted via Twitter to the decision, considering it “a great victory”reaffirming his office’s right to “hold manufacturers accountable for the devastation caused by guns”, as well as a ray of “hope” in the aftermath of the Uvalde shooting.
< p class=”paragraph”>The law that is finally upheld also obliges arms manufacturers to “establish and use reasonable controls and processes to prevent their qualified products from being appropriated, used, promoted or sold illegally”.
Gunmakers enjoy broad immunity in the US from potential lawsuits by shooting victims thanks to a 2005 federal law, but that rule has some marketing-related exceptions, leading to an unprecedented settlement between a company and a class of plaintiffs last February.
< /p>The Robb Elementary school, after the massacre in which 22 people died, including the shooter (REUTERS/Nuri Vallbona)
This is the agreement between the relatives of the victims of the massacre of the Sandy Hook school, Newtown (Connecticut, USA), which occurred in 2012, which achieved compensation from Remington, the manufacturer of the weapon used by the shooter, focusing on advertising the weapon.
During the process, the families’ attorneys argued that the advertising of the semi-automatic rifle used, the Bushmaster AR-15, violated state law, since it was and was aimed at civilian consumers when, due to its characteristics, that weapon would only be suitable for use by military and police personnel.
(With information from EFE)