But 2002 and 2004 saw historic victories for pro-gun candidates, mostly Republicans. Consequently, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act was finally passed and signed into law in 2005 to stop these junk lawsuits.
Anti-gun forces immediately pressed their court cases, arguing that the new law didn’t apply to current cases, despite the fact that the law was explicitly retroactive to cover all lawsuits. They only found one New York federal judge willing to go along with them, who was promptly reversed on appeal to the Second Circuit.
The only way left to stop this law from fulfilling its promise to keep America’s firearm heritage alive was to have it struck down as unconstitutional.
Predictably, that’s exactly what anti-gun forces tried to do next. Alleging one ridiculous theory after another about how this federal law violated the U.S. Constitution, three lawsuits were pushed all the way through the legal system to the U.S. Supreme Court. In March of 2009, the Court refused to grant certiorari to review Lawson v. Beretta and City of New York v. Beretta (the latter being the pet-project of the rabidly anti-gun Mike Bloomberg).
And last week on Dec. 14, the Supreme Court rejected what will hopefully be the last such ridiculous suit, Adames v. Beretta.
The right to bear arms is essential to liberty itself. It’s an insurance policy, enshrined in the Second Amendment of our Constitution to make sure America would always remain the Land of the Free.
For 138 years, the National Rifle Association has fought to protect this right for future generations. This 2005 tort-reform law is one of the NRA’s greatest achievements in protecting our Second Amendment rights.
They’re doubtless celebrating this victory at NRA headquarters, as well they should. And it’s welcome news for all of us who are among America’s 90 million gun owners.
Merry Christmas, firearm owners. Don’t forget to thank the NRA for this long-awaited Christmas present.