The Florida House has passed legislation to provide immunity for gun manufacturers in “certain products liability actions” based on “any design feature, functionality, safety mechanism, or performance standard that is not required by federal law.”
The bill (HB 1551) was written to protect gun manufacturer Sig Sauer, which has been the subject of numerous lawsuits alleging its P320 pistols can fire without an intentional trigger pull.
The measure is not guaranteed to make it to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk. The Senate version (SB 1748), sponsored by Sen. Jay Trumbull, R-Panama City, has only passed in one of its three assigned committees. The session is scheduled to end a week from Friday.
The 75-29 vote in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Thursday comes as Sig Sauer has spent more than $500,000 in contributions to more than 30 Republicans before the legislative session started, including $50,000 each to House Speaker Daniel Perez, Senate President Ben Albritton, and Rep. Wyman Duggan, R- Jacksonville, the House bill sponsor, as reported by Seeking Rents reporter Jason Garcia.
“We have a recent but robust practice of tort reform efforts in this chamber over the last four years, and I see this legislation as another step in that process,” Duggan said when asked by Democratic House Leader Fentrice Driskell what he considered the “compelling policy reason” for his bill.
Among the law enforcement agencies that have stopped using the Sig Sauer P320 is the Indian River County Sheriff’s Department, after deputy Zachary Seldes was severely injured when his P320 discharged without the trigger being pulled. He has filed a lawsuit against the company.
Rep. Robin Bartleman, D-Weston, noted similar misfires with the Sig Sauer P320 have taken place at several law enforcement agencies across Florida in recent years.
“If this law was in place at the time of their injuries, the law enforcement officers and the gun owners of America would have been subject to life threatening injuries, long-term hospitalizations, disability, and more, and would have had no recourse against the company that manufactured the gun who injured them,” she said. “Why are we doing this?”
Rep. Kevin Chambliss, D-Homestead, said the Florida Legislature historically takes pride in standing up for law enforcement, and that he didn’t understand why that wasn’t the case in this situation.
“I get it. There are technical issues about whether, ‘Is it the safety or — here’s my question. Does it put law enforcement officers in danger, yes or no? What I am telling you, ladies and gentlemen, is that this bill does.”
Driskell said the bill shielded gun manufacturers from accountability when people are killed or injured by intentional design choices. “That’s not tort reform. That’s a manufacturer get-out-of-jail-free card, written into Florida statute,” she said.
The bill would apply to causes of action filed after its effective date, upon being signed into law. That’s important because it would mean Seldes would be able to continue his lawsuit against Sig Sauer.
Speaking to reporters following a House committee meeting last month, Seldes’ boss, Sheriff Eric Flowers, said it was “scary to me as a law enforcement leader that there are guns going off without manipulation.
“And so, without a trigger press, without some sort of something happening. I don’t know what it is. But I know it’s something that needs to be addressed and I want to make sure here today to just preserve Zach’s rights to at least take it to court and to be heard, so that maybe somebody in the future won’t get hurt as a result of this.”
The final vote was not cast strictly along party lines. Democrats Bruce Antone and Yvonne Hinson joined the majority of Republicans in supporting the bill, while three Republicans — Peggy Seidman-Gossett, Susan Plasencia, and Danny Alvarez — voted against it.
Alvarez also serves as general counsel to the Tampa Police Benevolent Association, and wrote an op-ed last summer calling on all Florida law agencies to remove the P320 from service.
–Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
Gina says
What so bad about safety with deadly weapons, why is everything
so ass backwards, so an child can grab ahold of this POS weapon
and kill themself and or orhers? Either these people who voted
for immunity for this manufacturer are complete morons or
lining their pockets with plenty of cronyism money, either
way they have blood on their hands.
R.S. says
Of course, the Swiss are sooo neutral, aren’t they? But they’re so successful at bribing the Trumpublicans of Florida. In Switzerland, you’d have to be at least 18 years old and qualify to have a license to own one of these lethal toys. Sig Sauer, of course, is a Swiss manufacturer.
Deborah Coffey says
Every Republican today is on the wrong track…politically, in life, and spiritually. Kiss it if they don’t begin getting their morals, ethics, and spiritually corrected. There’s a big price to be paid when money, power and Trump are your goals.
Skibum says
What a foolish bill this proposed legislation is! Trying to protect a gun manufacturer from being liable for civil damages resulting from so many accidental shootings with this particular model that law enforcement agencies coast to coast have banned it’s use by their law enforcement personnel. And those republicans who decided to put this horrible legislation forward did so after taking thousands of dollars in political donations (bribes) from Sig Sauer. Despicable, but not at all surprising.
Bo Peep says
Yeah because it is a stupid idea.
DaleL says
I don’t understand the opposition to common sense (At least what I consider to be common sense.) requirements for firearms. Instead of protecting a manufacturer of self firing guns, allow them to be sued out of business or better yet, to recall and fix their guns. Here is what I consider to be common sense:
1. All firearms should have to pass a drop safety test. That is a gun should not fire if dropped from a normal carry height (4-5 feet) onto a concrete surface.
2. All firearms must have a trigger guard and cannot fire unless the trigger is pulled. (P320 defect.)
3. All semi-automatic firearms must not be capable of firing if their magazine is removed. (Too many people have been accidentally shot with an “empty” gun.
Personally, I would favor enhanced training and registration for people who own semi-automatic firearms with detachable magazines. (“A well regulated militia is necessary for a free state….”)
Anyway, that is my two cents, oops cents (sense) are going away.
Pogo says
Gunshine State News (aka same old same old)
Man shoots gun
… gun expected to make full recovery.
Gun related crime
https://www.bing.com/search?q=Another+gun+related+crime