Gun makers lose challenge to New York legislation allowing lawsuits against business

Guns confiscated at New York Metropolis public schools are displayed at a news convention with Mayor Eric Adams at police headquarters to discuss weapons in public faculties in New York City on Might 25, 2022 in New York City.

Spencer Platt | Getty Photographs

A federal choose on Wednesday threw out a lawsuit by a gaggle of gun manufacturers, distributors and retailers challenging the constitutionality of a New York law that permits the state and other people affected by gun violence to sue the trade.

U.S. District Judge Mae D'Agostino in Albany rejected a request by the Nationwide Taking pictures Sports Foundation and gun manufacturers, including Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger & Co, to enjoin enforcement of the statute.

The ruling came a day after a gunman killed 19 youngsters and two adults at a Texas elementary college, the latest in a spate of mass shootings, prompting renewed calls by Democrats for harder gun laws.

The Nationwide Shooting Sports activities Foundation, a trade group for the firearms industry, did not instantly respond to a request for remark.

Democratic former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo final July signed into law a measure that seeks to beat legal hurdles that have largely shielded the trade from lawsuits related to gun violence.

The law permits firearm sellers, producers and distributors to be sued by the state, cities or individuals for making a "public nuisance" that endangers the public's safety and health.

The gun trade group argued the regulation wrongly imposes liability on companies working anywhere in the nation that make, sell or market weapons or ammunition that are misused by criminals in New York.