DoingItLocal

(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong released the following statement regarding passage in the Connecticut General Assembly of House Bill No. 7042, An Act Concerning Implementation of the Firearm Industry Responsibility Act, to strengthen accountability for bad actors in the firearm industry. The legislation now heads to the Governor for his signature.

The legislation would permit the Office of the Attorney General to bring civil enforcement actions against gun manufacturers, distributors, marketers and retailers who fail to implement reasonable controls to prevent the sale of firearms to straw purchasers, firearm traffickers, individuals prohibited from possessing firearms under state or federal law or individuals the firearm industry member has reasonable cause to believe intend to use it for a crime or to cause harm to themselves or others.  The bill also permits private citizens, or corporation counsels on behalf of municipalities, the right to bring suits for loss or injury as a result of a failure to implement those reasonable controls.

This bill would not impact responsible gun owners or responsible industry professionals.

“There is no legal immunity for reckless bad actors in the firearms industry who mislead and deceive or ignore our state’s strong gun safety laws. I am prepared to use the full weight of my civil enforcement authority to protect Connecticut families from gun violence. Connecticut has some of the strongest gun safety laws on the books in recognition of our state’s terrible history. This bill ensures Connecticut will continue to lead in keeping our communities safe,” said Attorney General Tong.

Attorney General Tong is part of a coalition of 16 attorneys general formed in 2024 to hold irresponsible firearms industry members accountable for their devastating impact on gun violence. This multistate coalition, the first of its kind, aims to reduce gun violence through the coordinated enforcement of state civil liability and consumer protection laws, among other authority, to promote public safety and saving lives.

The legislation is modeled after similar measures in coalition states, including California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Washington. Legal challenges to these laws have been uniformly upheld to date. In December 2024, both New Jersey and Minnesota sued Glock under their accountability statute for knowingly selling and manufacturing handguns that can be easily converted into machine guns.

The gun industry has enjoyed enormous exemptions from liability and accountability in court since the passage of the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which provides firearm industry defendants with broad immunity from many common law tort actions.  Congress carved out six exceptions to this immunity, pursuant to which firearms sellers may be held liable for third-party crimes committed with their products. This includes civil actions alleging that a manufacturer or seller of a firearm knowingly violated a state or federal statute applicable to the sale or marketing of the firearm, and the violation was a proximate cause of the harm for which relief is sought.

Here in Connecticut, the families of the victims of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School opened the door to holding the industry accountable for gun violence by suing Bushmaster for improper marketing and advertising of its firearms under PLCAA’s predicate exception.