Gun makers lose challenge to New York regulation permitting lawsuits against trade

Weapons confiscated at New York Metropolis public schools are displayed at a news convention with Mayor Eric Adams at police headquarters to speak about weapons in public schools in New York Metropolis on Might 25, 2022 in New York City.

Spencer Platt | Getty Photos

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 folks affected by gun violence to sue the trade.

U.S. District Choose Mae D'Agostino in Albany rejected a request by the Nationwide Capturing Sports activities Foundation and gun manufacturers, together with 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 school, the newest in a spate of mass shootings, prompting renewed calls by Democrats for harder gun laws.

The Nationwide Capturing Sports activities Foundation, a commerce group for the firearms industry, did not immediately respond to a request for remark.

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

The law allows firearm sellers, producers and distributors to be sued by the state, cities or individuals for creating a "public nuisance" that endangers the public's safety and health.

The gun business group argued the law wrongly imposes legal responsibility on corporations operating anywhere in the nation that make, promote or market weapons or ammunition which can be misused by criminals in New York.