mr. speaker , i thank the distinguished chairman of the committee on the judiciary for his help in bringing this bill to the floor . 
he has been a leader on this bill in shepherding it through the committee on the judiciary time and time again . 
i also want to thank my colleague from virginia ( mr. boucher ) xz4000430 for introducing this bill with me through the last three sessions of congress and all the other members who have strongly supported the protection of lawful commerce in arms act over the years . 
mr. speaker , this is a bipartisan bill . 
almost the same bill passed this house on this floor 285 to 140 . 
over 60 democrats supported it . 
this legislation will stop baseless lawsuits against gun manufacturers or dealers based on the criminal or unlawful third-party misuse of firearms . 
this may seem like an obvious idea . 
after all , would we hold a car company responsible if a driver gets drunk or reckless and hits somebody with a vehicle ? 
of course not . 
this is the united states of america where we are responsible for our own actions ; but yet these frivolous lawsuits against a vital , legitimate and perfectly lawful industry have continued unabated for the last several years in the simple hope of bankrupting this industry . 
this is a commonsense , logical piece of legislation whose time has come . 
the states , the courts and the american people have decided again and again that these harmful and baseless lawsuits are unfair and must be done away with . 
if anyone does not believe me , let us take a look at this map . 
it shows that 33 states , or two-thirds of the united states , have laws prohibiting these same frivolous lawsuits . 
these states consider it fair and just to prevent these junk lawsuits . 
i am proud to say my home state of florida is one of those states . 
the bill we are considering today is designed to simply mirror these states and what they have done to provide a unified system of laws united states-wide . 
there have also been dozens and dozens of lawsuits at the local , state , and federal levels which have rejected this theory that gun manufacturers should be held liable for what violent criminals do with their lawful products . 
i have three charts here which list in detail these cases . 
it is really quite impressive the number of these frivolous lawsuits that have been rejected out of hand . 
if my colleagues would bear with me , i would like to focus on a recent case in this last chart which is circled . 
this case took place in the county of los angeles , california . 
the cities of los angeles , san francisco , and 12 other california municipalities filed lawsuits against 28 manufacturers , six distributors and three associations . 
this was a mammoth case and they lost . 
they appealed it , and it was unanimously upheld by a lower court and the appellate court . 
i would remind my colleagues that this is an idea that has been enormously popular with the public , also . 
a march 2005 poll conducted by the moore information public information research company showed that a remarkable 79 percent of the american people believe that firearm manufacturers should not be held legally responsible for violence committed by armed criminals . 
the fact of the matter is that there are several pending lawsuits which continue to abuse the judicial system and would threaten legitimate , lawful businesses , including in new york city and right here in the district of columbia . 
we must also consider that just the mere threat of these suits or taking the first couple of legal steps to defend these suits simply can be enough to force some of the smaller companies out of business . 
as one proponent of this tactic once bragged , we are going to make the gun industry die a `` death by a thousand cuts. '' this legislation will end these coercive and undemocratic lawsuits . 
i remind my colleagues and those who are watching at home that this legislation is very narrowly tailored to allow suits against any bad actors to proceed . 
it includes carefully crafted exceptions to allow legitimate victims their day in court for cases involving defective firearms , breaches of contract , criminal behavior by a gun maker or seller , or the negligent entrustment of a firearm to an irresponsible person . 
in conclusion , mr. speaker , i am pleased that we are voting on this bill . 
it has been a 6-year effort . 
it is with a great deal of satisfaction to the 257 bipartisan cosponsors that this bill , h.r. 800 , as amended by the senate and passed by the senate two to one , 65 to 31 , is poised to pass in this congress as a bipartisan law . 
i urge my colleagues to join with us in voting for this piece of legislation . 
