By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
On a party line 28-21 vote, the Washington State Senate has passed a bill to hold gun manufacturers and retailers liable for crimes committed by third parties over whom they have no control.
Senate Bill 5078 is a measure certain to bring federal lawsuits from the firearms industry if it becomes law. It will, say critics, immediately be challenged under the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), signed by former President George W. Bush about 20 years ago. The gun prohibition lobby and politicians including President Joe Biden have falsely claimed the PLCAA provides blanket immunity from lawsuits to the firearms industry. Gun manufacturers are still liable for producing defective products.
A poll currently being conducted online by KOMO News in Seattle—the local ABC News affiliate—shows overwhelming opposition to the legislation.
According to KOMO, SB 5078 is “supported by Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson,” both Democrats. The bill would allow Ferguson “general or families of those killed by gun violence to sue gun-makers who market to minors or others not allowed to own a gun.”
Critics say the legislation ignores the fact that many, if not most guns used by criminals are stolen or somehow otherwise illegally obtained. Manufacturers and gun dealers, they contend, have no control over the misuse of firearms, especially if they are stolen.
KOMO notes in its report, “Proponents of newly proposed gun laws said the bills are about keeping communities safe and getting justice for families of gun violence victims, while others believe these ideas go after businesses instead of holding criminals accountable.”
By no small irony, a man involved in one of Seattle’s most violent shootings three years ago is now on home detention while awaiting trial, set to begin March 13 in King County Superior Court. William Tolliver, 27, is facing charges of first-degree murder and six counts of first-degree assault, according to Fox News. The King County Prosecutor’s Office argued for his continued confinement in jail until his trial.
Tolliver, according to Fox News, “had previously been arrested 44 times, convicted of one felony, 18 gross misdemeanors and one misdemeanor, KING 5 reported in 2020. Following the shooting, Tolliver…fled to Las Vegas where (he) were arrested just days later.”
It should be noted that at the time of the January 2020 gunfight that left one woman dead and six other people injured, Tolliver was under Department of Corrections supervision. Because he is a convicted felon, he could not legally own or possess a firearm.
He and another man, Marquise Tolbert, got into a gunfight with Jamal Jackson. They were rival gang members. This past September, Tolbert was found not guilty of murder and assault charges when his attorneys successfully argued he was acting in self-defense, Fox News reported.
Jackson went to trial in 2021 and was found guilty of unlawful firearms possession and drew a 16-month prison sentence, Fox News said.
Some critics say the true irony is that the same people who advocate for leniency for repeat offenders who use firearms in violent crime support the notion of holding the firearms industry for gun-related crimes.
