Supreme Court lets New York gun industry accountability law stand

The Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the gun industry’s challenge left New York’s gun industry accountability law standing, preserving a state-level route for lawsuits against manufacturers, wholesalers and dealers whose conduct is alleged to endanger public safety. The decision keeps in place a legal path that could become a template for other states seeking to test the reach of the federal shield Congress gave the firearms industry in 2005.

New York’s law was signed in 2021 by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo and is codified in General Business Law sections 898-a through 898-e. It makes it unlawful for a gun industry member, through unlawful or unreasonable conduct, to knowingly or recklessly create, maintain or contribute to a condition in New York that endangers public safety through the sale, manufacturing, importing or marketing of firearms or ammunition. The statute was designed to target trafficking, theft and straw purchases, and it requires the industry to use reasonable safeguards against those practices.

The petitioners included the National Shooting Sports Foundation and companies including Smith & Wesson, Ruger, Beretta, Glock, Sig Sauer and Sturm. They argued that New York’s law was preempted by the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, the 2005 federal statute that generally shields gunmakers from civil liability when their products are later used in crimes. The case did not turn on Second Amendment rights, making it more about consumer-protection style regulation than about the constitutional right to bear arms.

The Manhattan-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the New York law on July 10, 2025, saying it fit PLCAA’s predicate exception for state or federal laws regulating the sale or marketing of firearms. The Supreme Court let that ruling stand on June 15.

The law has already been used in litigation tied to the May 14, 2022, Buffalo Tops supermarket mass shooting, where 10 Black people were killed and three others wounded. In February 2026, families and survivors in that litigation reached settlement agreements with MEAN LLC, Vintage Firearms LLC and the shooter’s parents.

New York officials cast the Supreme Court’s move as a major win for gun-violence prevention. Gov. Kathy Hochul called it a “massive victory” in the state’s fight against gun violence. Attorney General Letitia James had earlier described the 2nd Circuit’s ruling as a “massive victory for public safety and the rule of law.” The result leaves New York with one of the strongest civil-enforcement tools in the country against the firearms industry, and it may invite other states to try similar laws.