The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) secured a preliminary injunction Tuesday against New Jersey’s A1765, which was intended to create avenues by which public nuisance laws could be used to sue gun manufacturers.

The NSSF filed suit in light of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which shields gun makers from frivolous lawsuits in situations where guns which were legally made and legally sold are later stolen (or otherwise acquired) and used in crimes.

In other words, PLCAA is designed to ensure Glock, Sig Sauer, Smith & Wesson, etc., cannot be sued over a handgun that was used in crime if that handgun was legally made, distributed from the factory to a Federal Firearms License holder (FFL), and then sold via a National Instant Criminal Background System (NICS) check to an individual at retail.

The text of PLCAA states:

Businesses in the United States that are engaged in interstate and foreign commerce through the lawful design, manufacture, marketing, distribution, importation, or sale to the public of firearms or ammunition products that have been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce are not, and should not, be liable for the harm caused by those who criminally or unlawfully misuse firearm products or ammunition products that function as designed and intended.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signed bill A1765 into law on June 5, 2022. As he prepared to do so, he told CNN that A1765 was part of a group of bills that would “continue not to attack Second Amendment rights — we respect those rights — but to attack folks who should not have guns, folks who don’t know how to use those guns, manufacturers who deliberately market those guns in a way that leads to harm, a whole other series of laws we will put in place. And God willing, that will ultimately make us a safer state and a safer nation.”

NSSF filed its motion against A1765 on November 12, 2022, noting that A1765 “creates a cause of for public nuisance applying to gun industry members ‘engaged in the sale, manufacturing, distributing, importing, or marketing of a gun-related product, and any officer, agent, employee, or other person authorized to act on behalf of that person or who acts in active concert or participation with one or more such persons.”

On January 31, 2023, District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi granted the preliminary injunction, blocking enforcement of gun control measures in A1765.

The case is NSSF v. Platkin No. 22-6646  in the United States District Court District of New Jersey.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a PhD in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.