Legislators mount effort on gun industry liability

ALBANY — New York lawmakers are mounting an effort to open gun manufacturers and distributors up to civil liability suits.

“It would be the first bill of its kind in the country, and would be incredibly important to reestablish norms of gun industry accountability,” said David Pucino, an attorney at the Giffords Law Center, a national gun control advocacy group.

Federal statute enacted in 2005, which was drafted as a response to legal threats made by officials such as then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo, generally grants immunity to the firearms industry.

But that immunity isn’t absolute. And State Sen. Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn) has authored a bill that he believes is permissible under the federal law which would significantly extend the state’s ability to challenge manufacturers whose products are used illegally.