Book contents
- Public Nuisance
- Public Nuisance
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Historical Context of Private and Public Nuisance at Law and Equity
- 2 Shifting Mass Tort Theories in the 1990s and the Judicial Resistance to the Expansion of Public Nuisance Liability
- 3 Expanding Public Nuisance Doctrine
- 4 Litigating Public Nuisance Claims
- 5 Expanding Public Nuisance Doctrine: Defenses
- 6 Expanding Public Nuisance
- 7 Environmental Contamination, PCBs, and Climate Change as Public Nuisance Harms
- 8 Opioids as Public Nuisance Health and Welfare Harm
- 9 Firearms Violence as a Public Nuisance
- 10 E-Cigarettes and Vaping as a Public Nuisance Harm
- 11 Evaluating the Competing Arguments Regarding the Contemporary Use of Public Nuisance in Mass Tort Litigation
- Conclusion
- Index
9 - Firearms Violence as a Public Nuisance
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 November 2023
- Public Nuisance
- Public Nuisance
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Historical Context of Private and Public Nuisance at Law and Equity
- 2 Shifting Mass Tort Theories in the 1990s and the Judicial Resistance to the Expansion of Public Nuisance Liability
- 3 Expanding Public Nuisance Doctrine
- 4 Litigating Public Nuisance Claims
- 5 Expanding Public Nuisance Doctrine: Defenses
- 6 Expanding Public Nuisance
- 7 Environmental Contamination, PCBs, and Climate Change as Public Nuisance Harms
- 8 Opioids as Public Nuisance Health and Welfare Harm
- 9 Firearms Violence as a Public Nuisance
- 10 E-Cigarettes and Vaping as a Public Nuisance Harm
- 11 Evaluating the Competing Arguments Regarding the Contemporary Use of Public Nuisance in Mass Tort Litigation
- Conclusion
- Index
Summary
Chapter 9 turns to an exploration of the repeated history of plaintiffs harmed by gun violence to sue defendant actors in the firearms industry: gun manufacturers, distributors, sellers, and traffickers. The chapter begins with a statistical description of the toll of gun violence in the United States, documenting deaths, murders, suicides, and accidental injuries resulting from use or misuse of guns. The firearms industry has long been immunized from lawsuits based on the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which provided blanket immunity from suit to the firearms industry. Courts have dismissed virtually all firearms litigation in the 20th and 21st centuries, pursuant to PLCAA. The chapter discusses the applicability of PLCAA exemptions, and how plaintiffs have attempted to exploit the predicate statute exception to pursue public nusiance claims against gun defendants. Courts typically have disallowed firearms litigation under the predicate statute exception. The chapter ends with an analysis of recent legislative initiatives in New York, New Jersy, Delaware, and California to enact firearms public nuisance statutes to come within the PLCAA predicate statute exemption.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Public NuisanceThe New Mass Tort Frontier, pp. 182 - 210Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023