February 23, 2026

NSSF Petitions U.S. Supreme Court in NSSF v. James

WASHINGTON, D.C.  — NSSF^®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari in NSSF v. James, a challenge to New York’s public nuisance law that attempts to circumvent the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA). The petition comes after a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruling last year that allowed New York’s law to stand.

New York’s public nuisance law attempts to evade the will of Congress when it passed the bipartisan PLCAA in 2005 and was signed by President George W. Bush. New York’s law creates a new civil action under which “gun industry members” may be forced to redress criminals’ misdeeds, on the theory that they “unreasonably” made, sold or marketed a firearm that is later misused in New York. New York enacted a law to — in the then-Governor Andrew Cuomo’s own words — “reinstate the public nuisance liability for gun manufacturers” that Congress prohibited in the PLCAA, in an avowed effort to “right the wrong” that New York believes Congress committed when it enacted that federal law.

“We earnestly believe that New York’s punitive public nuisance law is exactly what Congress had in mind when it passed the PLCAA with a bipartisan majority. The PLCAA is designed to prohibit frivolous lawsuits against members of the firearm industry based on the criminal actions of remote third parties, and we continue to believe the New York statute is intended to evade the will of Congress,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “The PLCAA is codification of bedrock tort law. It codifies common law and common-sense principles to prevent baseless litigation from bankrupting an entire industry, especially one that provides the necessary means for the lawful exercise of the Second Amendment.”

NSSF argues that New York’s public nuisance law is preempted by PLCAA, and — contrary to the Second Circuit’s holding — does not fit within the predicate exception of the statute, which permits a narrow subset of lawsuits based on knowing violations of certain state or federal laws. Indeed, the Supreme Court has already spoken on the PLCAA’s predicate exception and concluded that it does not allow states to resurrect the very claims the PLCAA prohibits. Applying the logic of the Court’s decision in Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc., et al v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, if laws like New York’s public nuisance statute fall within the predicate exception, then that exception “would swallow most of the rule.” In that case, the Court expressed “doubt Congress intended to draft such a capacious way out of PLCAA” and explained that “in fact it did not.”

This commonsense reading of the predicate exception has already been adopted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the D.C. Court of Appeals, which creates a circuit split necessitating the Supreme Court’s intervention. NSSF argues that the Court should also take the case because attempts to circumvent the PLCAA are proliferating; 10 states have passed anti-PLCAA laws and more are expected.

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About NSSF
NSSF is the trade association for the firearm industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearms retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org.

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Media contact:
Mark Oliva
202-220-1340

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