What to Know Today
New York AG’s case against the NRA, now 2 years old, is moving forward. Last week, a Manhattan judge again declined to dismiss New York Attorney General Letitia James’s lawsuit against the National Rifle Association, Law&Crime reported, delivering a stinging rebuke of the association’s repeated attempts to get the case dismissed: “The rule that you get one crack at it is an important one,” the Manhattan Supreme Court justice said. James is seeking a compliance monitor to oversee the NRA’s finances and millions in back pay from CEO Wayne LaPierre.
Families of Robb Elementary mass shooting survivors sue Uvalde school district, city, gunmaker, and others. The federal lawsuit by three families of survivors of the massacre names 10 defendants, The Texas Tribune reports, including the school district and its former police chief, Pete Arredondo; the school’s principal; the city of Uvalde; and Daniel Defense, the manufacturer of the rifle the gunman used to kill 19 children and two teachers. The families’ lawsuit was filed the same day that families of victims and survivors of the Highland Park shooting filed civil suits against Smith & Wesson.
After Bruen, gun rights groups are again trying to overturn Connecticut’s ban on assault weapons. Last week, three gun owners, the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, and the Washington State-based Second Amendment Foundation filed a lawsuit in an attempt to overturn the state’s ban on some semiautomatic firearms, CT Insider reports. The ban was enacted in response to the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting. This isn’t the first time gun rights groups have sued Connecticut over its assault weapons ban, but this suit comes in the wake of Bruen, and as a defamation trial against Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist who popularized the idea that the massacre in Newtown was a “false flag” operation, continues in Waterbury. The aftermath: Bruen is reshaping gun laws across the U.S. We’re tracking the effects of the decision here.
Honolulu mayor asks City Council to ban guns in public places. In a statement, Rick Blangiardi said guns should be banned in parks, schools, public transit, government buildings, and voting locations, Honolulu Civil Beat reports. The mayor also asked the City Council to create a rule for private businesses to determine whether they would allow people to carry guns on their premises. Oahu is rewriting its gun policies post-Bruen, which overturned Hawaii’s ban on carrying guns outside the home.
U.S. judge dismisses Mexican government’s suit against American gun manufacturers. The unprecedented lawsuit, filed in 2021, argued that gunmakers know their commercial practices contribute to and facilitate gun trafficking to Mexico. The Mexican government estimates that at least 17,000 homicides in 2019 were linked to guns trafficked from the U.S. On Friday, the Associated Press reported, a U.S. federal judge ruled that the gun manufacturers named in the suit — including Smith & Wesson, Beretta, and Colt — were shielded by the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. What is the PLCAA? The law provides blanket protection from lawsuits alleging harm caused by the weapons the gun industry produces, The Trace’s Champe Barton wrote in 2020.
Data Point
$10 billion — the damages the Mexican government sought in its lawsuit against U.S. gunmakers. [AP]
