NSSF, which represents the firearm industry as a trade association, voiced support for new federal legislation introduced in Washington, D.C., saying it would help stop a wave of public nuisance lawsuits aimed at lawful businesses in the gun sector.

The proposal is S. 4775, titled the Stopping Harmful and Outrageous Torts (SHOT) Act. NSSF says the bill is designed to reinforce the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), a federal law intended to limit improper litigation that tries to hold manufacturers and sellers responsible for criminal misuse of their products.

According to NSSF, the bill was introduced by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas. The organization argues that courts have allowed certain public nuisance claims to proceed in ways that invite costly and sprawling lawsuits, even when the businesses being sued have complied with existing laws and regulations.

From a limited-government perspective, NSSF frames these cases as an attempt to achieve policy outcomes through the courts rather than through elected legislatures. The association says the SHOT Act would close avenues for what it describes as meritless suits that can function as de facto regulation through litigation and impose major legal burdens regardless of the final outcome.

NSSF’s statement casts the measure as a straightforward effort to strengthen PLCAA’s protections so that lawful commerce in firearms is not targeted by litigation theories that treat legally made and legally sold products as a public nuisance. The organization is urging attention to the bill’s goal of preventing such lawsuits from moving forward.