Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris are united in their push to open firearm manufacturers up to lawsuits over gun crime.
Firearm manufacturers have been protected from lawsuits tied to the misuse of lawfully made and lawfully sold firearms since the passage of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) of 2005.
Biden has repeatedly criticized PLCAA on the campaign trail.
Biden used a speech to a MSNBC/Gabby Giffords/March for Our Lives gun control forum in 2019 to push for opening gun makers to lawsuits, Breitbart News reported. He said, “No other outfit in history has gotten this kind of protection,” and claimed the suits could achieve “change overnight” in a way that stalled gun control legislation has failed to do.
Also, Biden told a New Hampshire audience in February that PLCAA gave gun makers “a loophole that does not allow them to be sued for the carnage they are creating,” Breitbart News reported.
He made clear that getting rid of the PLCAA would be one of his first priorities as president.
Biden again referenced the PLCAA during a February speech in South Carolina, then looked into the camera and said, “I’ve got news for you gun manufacturers. I’m coming for you and I’m going to take you down,” Breitbart News reported.
Kamala Harris also campaigned on eliminating the PLCAA when she was contending for the Democrat presidential nomination.
Harris “supports a repeal of [PLCAA],” CBS News reported in April 2019. Moreover, they noted that in the event that she could not secure a Congressional repeal, she would “direct the ATF to revoke the licenses of manufacturers and dealers who violate negligence, nuisance and marketing laws.”
Newsweek reported in 2019 that Harris’s plan is to at least weaken PLCAA. The magazine said, “Her campaign…issued a call to kneecap a federal law that protects gun manufacturers and sellers when their weapons are used in criminal activities.”
Biden and Harris are also united on banning “assault weapons,” on having a government-mandated buyback on certain guns, and on expanding background checks, among other things.
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. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.