(The Center Square) — Firearm manufacturers in New Hampshire would be largely exempt from lawsuits over features on their weapons under a bill awaiting Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s signature.
The Republican-sponsored legislation, which the state House of Representatives approved on Thursday, would give Sig Sauer and other gun makers in the state limited immunity from lawsuits over optional features. The Senate previously approved the bill in a similar party-line vote.
Passage of the measure comes as Sig Sauer — a Newington-based company and one of New Hampshire’s most prominent gun manufacturers — faces a slew of lawsuits over the safety of features on its popular P320 pistol. Several of the plaintiffs in the litigation are police officers.
Rep. Terry Roy, R-Deerfield and chairman of the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, said the bill will protect gun makers from frivolous lawsuits filed by opponents of gun rights. He said the measure doesn’t provide blanket legal immunity for the companies.
“At the end of the day this isn’t about gun rights, this is about product liability,” Roy said in remarks on Thursday. “Do you want people to be able to sue carmakers over cars that don’t have air conditioning? That’s what it comes down to.”
Democrats voted against the legislation, arguing that the proposal would shield Sig Sauer and other gunmakers from liabilities for flaws in their products that lead to injuries and deaths.
Rep. David Meuse, D-Portsmouth, said the legislation would allow “a powerful company that may be in denial over the safety of a key product” to “stifle” future lawsuits by demanding legal exemptions from the state’s product liability laws.
“Other companies have avoided product liability lawsuits, and the way they reduced future lawsuits was to change their products in a way that reduces the risk of unintended consequences,” Meuse said in remarks Thursday. “Not to go to lawmakers to ask for a special exemption.”
In March, a group of 22 police officers, military veterans and others filed a federal lawsuit against Sig Sauer, claiming the company’s P320 handgun fired without an intentional trigger pull — in some cases, in the holster — causing life-threatening injuries.
The lawsuit mirrors other legal challenges across the country, alleging that the P320 has a design or manufacturing flaw that makes it susceptible to unintentional firings.
However, the company has denied any flaws with P320, one of the country’s most popular pistols, and claims the lawsuits are part of a coordinated, nationwide campaign targeting Second Amendment rights.
“Industry, take notice; what’s happening today to Sig Sauer with the anti-gun mob and their lawfare tactics will happen tomorrow at another firearms manufacturer, and then another,” the company posted on social media recently.
