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Florida Puts Us Over The Halfway Point!
Center: NRA Past President Marion Hammer & Governor Jeb Bush
Back Row Left-to-Right: Lt. Governor Frank Brogan, Rep. Joe
Spratt, Rep. Jerry Paul Rep. Allan Bense, Rep. Jeff Miller,
Senator Charlie Bronson and Rep. Mike Hogan |
Continuing a growing national trend, Florida became the 26th
state to adopt legislation protecting the firearms industry from
reckless lawsuits, as Governor
Jeb Bush (R) signed the measure
into law Tuesday morning.
"The Legislature of Florida and Governor Bush have sent a clear
message that reckless, harassing lawsuits aimed at bankrupting
legitimate American businesses will not be tolerated," said James
Jay Baker, Executive Director of NRA's Institute
for Legislative
Action. "Poll after poll indicates that the vast majority of
Americans don't support these types of lawsuits, courts around
the country have rejected them, and since 1999, 26 states have
now provided legislative protection to the industry."
Baker noted that the legislative effort to protect American
firearms manufacturers against taxpayer-funded lawsuits aimed at
bankrupting the industry began when Georgia became the first
state to enact such a measure in February 1999. "Clearly, this
type of legislation has been a trend at the state level over the
last two years," Baker said. "Today, the majority of legislatures
and governors recognize that the notion of holding a legitimate
manufacturer of a lawful product liable for the criminal misuse
of that product is a notion that flies in the face of common
sense and our system of jurisprudence."
Today's action in Florida represents a major victory, not just
for the firearms industry and lawful gun owners, but for all
American businesses. "The greedy trial lawyers pushing these
suits have already indicated that after driving firearms
manufacturers out of business, they intend to move on to other
legitimate industries," Baker said. "NRA's 4.3 million members
will continue to fight to protect the firearms industry from
these vultures who seek to use hard-earned taxpayer dollars to
fund their bankrupt-by-lawsuit scheme."
States that have previously enacted lawsuit pre-emption
legislation are:
Alabama;
Alaska;
Arkansas;
Arizona;
Colorado;
Georgia;
Idaho;
Indiana;
Kentucky;
Louisiana;
Maine;
Michigan;
Missouri;
Montana;
Nevada;
North Dakota;
Oklahoma;
Pennsylvania;
South Carolina;
South Dakota;
Tennessee;
Texas;
Utah;
Virginia; and
Wyoming.
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