Trigger Warnings: The Coming Revolution in Firearms Industry Accountability

This article discusses the changed legal landscape concerning the ability of governments and private citizens to sue gun industry defendants for contributing to and sustaining the gun violence epidemic in the U.S., Mexico, and Latin America. The discussion canvasses federal and state efforts to regulate firearms through gun control measures, arguing that these regulatory measures have proven ineffective to stem the tide of gun violence. The analysis highlights three inflection points in the history of gun industry accountability: the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, the Connecticut Sandy Hook Elementary School litigation, and the very recent nine states’ enactment of consumer protection and public nuisance firearms statutes. These innovative statutes have created an avenue for firearms litigation that overcomes the firearm industry’s historical immunity from suit anchored in the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA). The article suggests that a firearms mass tort litigation and settlement, patterned on resolution of tobacco industrywide claims, is possible and feasible.