Supreme Court turns away challenge to New York firearms liability law

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge to a New York law that sets out a legal pathway to hold gunmakers accountable for harm caused by their weapons.

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The court’s decision not to intervene means the 2021 law remains in effect. It allows for various legal claims against gun manufacturers under state law, including alleged conduct that endangers the public health of New Yorkers.

The law, which was immediately challenged in court after being enacted, was written specifically to circumvent a 2005 federal law called the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act that created a liability shield for gunmakers.

It could yet face future legal challenges.

The court’s conservative majority generally backs gun rights, and as recently as last year invoked the same federal law in throwing out a novel lawsuit brought by the Mexican government against gun manufacturers.

The legal challenge to the New York law was brought by various gunmakers, including Glock and Smith & Wesson, as well as the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

The gunmakers’ lawyers claim that the state statute seeks to exploit a loophole in the federal law that allows lawsuits when a defendant “knowingly violated” a law relating to the sale or marketing of a firearm and that violation directly caused harm to a plaintiff, namely in a shooting.

If the New York measure were allowed to stand, it would render the 2005 federal law meaningless, they argue.

A federal judge in New York ruled against the gunmakers, with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reaching the same conclusion in a July 2025 ruling.

New York Attorney General Letitia James , a Democrat, urged the court not to take up the case, saying in court papers that the federal law “allows gun industry members to be held liable for the downstream acts of third parties in some circumstances.”