It was just a matter of time, and last night Senator Sanders, who voted for the PLCAA, caved to pressure from the left and indicated his support to repeal the odious law.
“Senator Sanders has for years voted many times on behalf of the NRA gun lobby position and one of the most egregious of those votes was the vote to give immunity from all liability to gun makers and sellers,” Clinton said on ABC’s This Week.
“He flip-flopped last night – said he would sign on to a bill that is currently pending in the House and Senate to repeal that liability, and I’m delighted that he has had a change of heart.”
Clinton then called on her rival to support legislation that would close the so-called Charleston loophole, which allows licensed dealers to finalize a gun sale without a completed background check if it takes authorities longer than 72 hours to process the request.
Senator Sanders responded that he had supported the bill for months but that there were sections he did not agree with. He also stated,
“I resent very much the Clinton camp saying I’m in the NRA lobby,” he said. “I have a D-minus, that’s a D like in David, voting record from the NRA.”
Here is a fact sheet that helps understand why the law inhibited the gun industry from becoming more safety oriented:
- Lonnie Phillips and Sandy Phillips, whose daughter was killed in the 2012 Aurora, Colorado, theater shooting, sued the companies that sold the shooter thousands of rounds of ammunition, as well as the 100-round ammunition magazine he used to kill 11 people. The Phillips’ lawsuit against the online retailer Lucky Gunner claimed that its Internet business practices do not provide reasonable safeguards to prevent potentially dangerous individuals from obtaining weapons. The case was dismissed under PLCAA, and—as a result of a combination of PLCAA and a Colorado state law that provides for attorneys fees in unsuccessful cases against the gun industry—the Phillips were ordered to pay the ammunition company more than $200,000 in legal fees.
- After 11-year-old Billy Swan of Illinois accidentally shot and killed his friend, Josh Adames, while playing with his father’s handgun in 2001, Josh’s father, Hector Adames Jr., sued the handgun manufacturer Beretta in 2009 under a product liability theory that Beretta not only failed to include an inexpensive device on the firearm that prevents a gun from firing without a magazine but also failed to include a warning that the weapon could be used without a magazine. The case was dismissed under PLCAA.
- In 2003, police officer Matthew Pavelka was shot and killed by a known gang member. In California state court, Pavelka’s family sued the dealer who sold the weapons that the shooter used, as well as the manufacturers of these guns. Their lawsuit claimed that the defendants failed to take appropriate steps to prevent illegal gun sales. The judge dismissed the case on the basis that PLCAA barred the action.
I’m happy he came around. Thanks to President Obama and Sec. Clinton, and good job, Senator Sanders.
It’s going to be a great day when this awful law is repealed. And yes, next up should be closing the Charleston loophole. Keep the pressure on every candidate that does not support sane gun law reforms.