U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) led an amicus brief on Apr. 1 urging the Supreme Court to overturn a Second Circuit ruling and uphold the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), seeking to prevent New York from circumventing federal firearms law.
The case holds significance for how states may attempt to impose liability on firearm manufacturers, potentially impacting the availability of firearms and the application of federal protections for gun makers.
Cruz, who serves as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights, was joined by several other senators in filing the brief. The document argues that “the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution ensures law-abiding and peaceable American citizens the right to keep and bear arms. But no one besides accomplished gunsmiths could exercise that right if a citizen could not lawfully purchase a firearm because the firearm industry had become insolvent.” The brief continues: “Congress passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) to prevent that outcome by placing firearm manufacturers on equal footing with other American manufacturers.” It further states: “Under the Act, so long as a firearm is properly made and properly transferred into commercial channels, a manufacturer is generally not liable if a criminal later misuses that firearm in the commission of a crime.” According to Cruz’s filing, “the PLCAA forecloses the imposition of liability under flexible and indistinct common-law standards that provide firearm manufacturers with no notice of the precise conduct that is required or to be avoided. Indeed, that was the statute’s core purpose.”
The brief criticizes New York’s legislative approach: “The State of New York is unhappy with any impediments to its ability to bankrupt lawful arms manufacturers based on actions of New York criminals whom the State is unable or unwilling to control… In [its] view—adopted by Second Circuit—the PLCAA is a paper tiger…” It also asserts: “This case presents an issue of exceptional importance with regard to states’ ability to circumvent…federal legislation… This Court should intervene now before Second Circuit’s decision… further undermines Second Amendment and congressional will.”
Cruz has previously served as solicitor general for Texas and clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist at the U.S. Supreme Court according to his official website. He represents Texas in the U.S. Senate according to his official website.
Cruz has argued nine cases before the U.S. Supreme Court during his tenure as solicitor general according to his official website. He graduated cum laude from Princeton University and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School according to his official website. Outside his professional life, he has two daughters with his wife Heidi according to his official website.
A total of twenty-one senators joined Cruz in submitting this amicus brief.
