Second Amendment Update; Civil Liability of Firearms Manufacturers & Dealers:

By Robert Phillips
Deputy District Attorney (Ret).

Set to go into effect on July 1, 2023, is new California Civil Code §§ 3273.50 to 3273.55 (AB 1594), authored by Assembly Member Phil Ting (D-San Francisco).  The meat of this new legislation is contained in subdivision (c) of section 3273.51, and section 3273.52.  Section 3273.51(c) mandates that a “firearm industry member shall not manufacture, market, import, or offer for wholesale . . . or retail sale a firearm-related product that is abnormally dangerous and likely to create an unreasonable risk or harm to public health and safety in California.” 

Subdivision (c)(2) of this section provides that there is “a presumption that a firearm-related product is abnormally dangerous and likely to create an unreasonable risk of harm to public health and safety if any (italics added) of the following are true:  (A) The firearm-related product’s features render the product most suitable for assaultive purposes instead of lawful self-defense, hunting, or other legitimate sport and recreational activities.  (B) The firearm-related product is designed, sold, or marketed in a manner that foreseeably promotes conversion of legal firearm-related products into illegal firearm-related products.  (C) The firearm-related product is designed, sold, or marketed in a manner that is targeted at minors or other individuals who are legally prohibited from accessing firearms.”   

Civil Code § 3273.52(a) & (b) says that a violation of the above that results in “harm” to any person will, as a consequence, provide that person with the right to sue the company that “manufacture(d), market(ed), import(ed), or offer(ed) for wholesale . . . or retail sale a firearm-related product that is abnormally dangerous and likely to create an unreasonable risk or harm to public health and safety in California.”   

Civil Code § 3273.52(c) says that in addition to the one harmed, the Attorney General, a city attorney, or county counsel, may also file a lawsuit.  The plaintiff in such a lawsuit may ask for injunctive relief, damages, attorney’s fees and costs, and “any other appropriate relief necessary to enforce” the provisions of Section 3273.51. (Subd. (d)) If it is proved that “(t)he firearm industry member’s action or ....

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