Gun makers lose problem to New York law allowing lawsuits in opposition to industry

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

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

A federal judge on Wednesday threw out a lawsuit by a group of gun producers, distributors and retailers difficult the constitutionality of a New York legislation that allows the state and people affected by gun violence to sue the trade.

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

The ruling got here a day after a gunman killed 19 children and two adults at a Texas elementary faculty, the latest in a spate of mass shootings, prompting renewed calls by Democrats for harder gun laws.

The National Taking pictures Sports Basis, a trade group for the firearms business, didn't instantly reply to a request for remark.

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

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

The gun trade group argued the regulation wrongly imposes legal responsibility on corporations operating anyplace within the country that make, promote or market guns or ammunition which are misused by criminals in New York.