Gun makers lose problem to New York legislation allowing lawsuits against trade

Guns confiscated at New York Metropolis public faculties are displayed at a news conference with Mayor Eric Adams at police headquarters to discuss weapons in public faculties in New York Metropolis on May 25, 2022 in New York City.

Spencer Platt | Getty Photographs

A federal judge on Wednesday threw out a lawsuit by a group of gun manufacturers, distributors and retailers challenging the constitutionality of a New York law that allows the state and other people affected by gun violence to sue the industry.

U.S. District Choose Mae D'Agostino in Albany rejected a request by the Nationwide Taking pictures Sports activities Foundation and gun manufacturers, including Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger & Co, to enjoin enforcement of the statute.

The ruling came a day after a gunman killed 19 youngsters and two adults at a Texas elementary college, the latest in a spate of mass shootings, prompting renewed calls by Democrats for tougher gun rules.

The Nationwide Shooting Sports activities Basis, a trade group for the firearms business, did not instantly reply to a request for comment.

Democratic former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo last July signed into regulation a measure that seeks to beat legal hurdles which have largely shielded the industry from lawsuits associated to gun violence.

The regulation allows firearm sellers, manufacturers and distributors to be sued by the state, cities or people for creating a "public nuisance" that endangers the general public's safety and well being.

The gun trade group argued the legislation wrongly imposes legal responsibility on companies operating anywhere within the country that make, sell or market guns or ammunition which might be misused by criminals in New York.