House Passes Gun Manufacturers Protection Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives Thursday passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act by a vote of 283 to 144.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) strongly supported the bill.

Only four Republicans voted against the bill designed to protect manufacturers and sellers of firearms from lawsuits arising out of the criminal acts of third parties. Fifty-nine of 199 Democrats also voted for the measure, which included a provision mandating that gun manufacturers and sellers provide gun purchasers with a secure gun storage or safety device.

"Freedom, truth, and justice prevailed," said NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre upon the bill's passing. "No other industry is forced to defend themselves when a violent criminal they do not know, have never met and cannot control, misuses a legal non-defective product. American firearms manufacturers will now receive the same fair treatment."

Not all gun advocates agree. Larry Pratt is the Executive Director of Gun Owners of America, an organization billing itself as the "only no-compromise gun lobby in Washington." Pratt believes the bill is a mistake because of the clause requiring mandated safety devices.

With a pro-gun Congress," Pratt says, "it's not worth it to do anything that ends up having something anti-gun. It's just unnecessary." Pratt was joined in opposition by the pro-gun control Brady Center.

Denis Hennigan, Director of the Brady Center's Legal Action Project, promises to challenge the constitutionality of the bill.

"The Congress can pass it. The President can sign it," Hennigan says, "But this shameful law will not stand. [This] bill is an unprecedented attack on the due process rights of victims injured by the misconduct of an industry that seeks to escape the legal rules that govern the rest of the country."

Representative Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., one of the bill's sponsors, said Henigan's comments are precisely what is wrong with the current legal environment.

"These folks," Stearn told NewsMax earlier this week, "have failed in the legislative process and so now they're abusing the judicial process to achieve their goals by suing the gun manufacturers rather than going after the violent criminals."