A police officer inspects a Jimenez Arms brand .38-caliber semiautomatic pistol during a gun turn-in event at Kingdom Word Church in Chicago's Roseland neighborhood on Sept. 24, 2022.
Firearms are now the leading cause of death for American children and teens, surpassing automobile accidents and cancer. And while gun violence is a public health crisis all across the United States, Black and Latino communities are disproportionately affected. By way of illustration, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Illinois in 2021, African Americans were almost 40 times more likely than white Americans to die by gun homicide.
To shield themselves from liability, unscrupulous firearm industry members have wrongly sought immunity under a federal law known as the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, or PLCAA. However, contrary to popular perception, the immunity in PLCAA is not absolute. The law specifically permits civil actions to be brought when a member of the industry knowingly violates a state law applicable to the sale and marketing of a firearm.
As with these other prominent industries, it is time for policymakers in Illinois to clarify that the state’s Consumer Fraud Act can indeed be used to check the harmful practices of rogue members of the firearm industry. This is not a crusade against gun manufacturers at large and not an attack on lawful gun owners.
Why don't the policy makers in Illinois focus on the disastrous crime and violence that the Democrats have brought upon us with their failed policies