This story was originally produced by the Portsmouth Herald. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
Republicans in the New Hampshire state Senate have killed a bill that would have repealed the broad immunity granted last year to Sig Sauer, the gunmaker facing numerous lawsuits alleging its P320 pistol can fire without the trigger being pulled.
The legislation, Senate Bill 554, was sponsored by Sen. Debra Altschiller, D-Stratham, alongside six of her Democratic colleagues in the Senate and two in the House of Representatives. If passed, it would have undone a law signed by Gov. Kelly Ayotte that prohibits lawsuits that focus on the gun’s lack of an external safety feature.
When she introduced the legislation before the state Senate Judiciary Committee in early February, Altschiller said her bill would “correct a mistake.” Under the law, gunmakers can be sued only if a plaintiff can prove a manufacturer's defect or that a specific promise about the gun’s quality is demonstrably false.
“On paper, that sounds reasonable,” Altschiller said. “In practice, it sets a bar so high that the very consumers this law should protect are left without recourse when a firearm's design puts them at risk.”
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