Mark Dayton: “It says that this proposed legislation would remove defendants from one of the oldest principles of civil liability…”

“It says that this proposed legislation would remove defendants from one of the oldest principles of civil liability law-- that persons or companies who act negligently should be accountable to victims harmed by this failure of responsibility. It states that under product liability laws in most States, manufacturers must adopt feasible safety devices that would prevent injuries caused when their products are foreseeably misused, regardless of whether the uses are ``intended'' by the manufacturer or whether the product ``fails or improperly functions.'' Thus, as the Senator from Michigan noted, automobile makers have been held civilly liable for not making cars crashworthy even though the intended use is not to ``crash the cars.'' Manufacturers of cigarette lighters must make them childproof even though children are not intended to use them. Under this proposed legislation, however, State laws would be preempted so that gun manufacturers would enjoy a special immunity. The letter also points out that this is happening in the existing legal backdrop of the present unparalleled immunity that the firearms industry already enjoyed from any Federal safety regulation.…”