@article{ref1,
title="States' rights, gun violence litigation, and tort immunity",
journal="Journal of law, medicine and ethics",
year="2020",
author="Higgins, Hilary J. and Rising, Andrew J. and Lowy, Jonathan E.",
volume="48",
number="Suppl 4",
pages="83-89",
abstract="The devastating toll of gun violence has given rise to hundreds of lawsuits seeking justice on behalf of victims and their families. A significant number of challenges  against gun companies, however, are blocked by courts' broad reading of the  Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) - a federal statute often  interpreted to shield the gun industry from civil liability. This article reexamines  PLCAA in light of the Supreme Court's recent federalism caselaw, which counsels  courts to narrowly construe federal laws that could otherwise upset the balance of  power between states and the federal government. Since PLCAA infringes on  traditional areas of state authority, the Supreme Court's federalism jurisprudence  requires lower courts to interpret PLCAA narrowly, to not bar states from imposing  negligence, nuisance, product liability, or other common law liability on gun  companies. Reading PLCAA in line with federalism principles would preserve states'  traditional authority over their civil justice laws, and enable gun violence  victims, and their families, to hold gun companies responsible for wrongdoing.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1073-1105",
doi="10.1177/1073110520979405",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1073110520979405"
}