The Republican says he is bringing back gun manufacturers in New York to challenge Letitia James

FIRST ON FOX: A dozen Republican state attorneys general are supporting gun manufacturers in legal battles in New York, including one lawsuit challenging New York Attorney General Letitia James’ role in trying to extend liability to manufacturers.

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen led the states in filing amicus briefs Monday in the lawsuits brought by Buffalo and Rochester, as well as another against James’ office, all of which focus on New York’s effort to hold gun makers and dealers accountable for gun violence under the state’s tort law. The AGs said New York was violating a federal law that protects the gun industry from liability and that the cases have national implications.

“These cases go beyond New York,” Knudsen told Fox News Digital in a phone interview. “This is not just a New York thing by any stretch of the imagination. … It affects all of us.” Knudsen said green states and liberal gun control advocates have repeatedly tried to “circumvent” federal law and “go after bankrupt gun companies.”

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The lawsuits center on the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Firearms Act (PLCAA), which is designed to protect gun manufacturers and dealers from liability when their products are used in crimes. Republican attorneys general countered in one of the briefs that New York is trying to override that law with a “boring and vague law aimed squarely at the gun industry.”

Knudsen lashed out at James, who is named in one of the lawsuits, accusing him of pushing an activist agenda while ignoring the PLCAA.

“This is an attorney general who should know better,” Knudsen said. “We should be able to read the case law and follow it, but he doesn’t seem to want to do that. Instead, he wants to be an activist. He wants to blame what I would say is probably the most regulated industry in America because of the bad policies he’s getting in his state.”

An amicus brief was filed in the Supreme Court in a case called James, National Shooting Sports Foundation v. James, when attorneys general urged the high court to intervene, warning that New York’s law would allow states across the country to circumvent the PLCAA by building gun manufacturers’ bills into state laws.

James has previously defended New York’s 2021 law as a public safety measure and hailed the lower court’s rulings in the case as a victory for the “rule of law.”

Knudsen emphasized the importance of the case to Second Amendment advocates.

“We don’t have a second amendment in this country if we don’t have gun manufacturers,” he said. “This is trying to kill the gun industry in this country one case at a time.”

A separate statement was filed in district court opposing lawsuits brought by the cities of Buffalo and Rochester, which say the gun manufacturers failed to install adequate safeguards to prevent gun crime and that the cities are entitled to compensation for those crimes.

Attorneys general argue that the gun industry is over-regulated and should not be held accountable for urban crimes committed with legally manufactured and sold firearms.

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Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen speaks during President Donald Trump’s rally at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse at Montana State University on Aug. 9, 2024, Bozeman, Montana. (Photo by Michael Ciaglo/Getty)

Montana’s attorney general also warned that New York’s law reaches beyond state borders and could allow New York to detain out-of-state gun manufacturers, raising constitutional concerns about interstate commerce.

The facade of the US Supreme Court building as seen in October 2024. (Valerie Plesch/photo alliance via Getty Images)

The Supreme Court may decide to step in and address the New York law, in part because lower courts are divided on how to interpret the exceptions built into the PLCAA. Knudsen said he expects the justices to think twice after discussing the law in Smith & Wesson Brands v. Mexico, a landmark case that was decided in favor of gun manufacturers last year.

In that case, Mexico had argued that under the PLCAA, several major gun companies could be held responsible for illegal gun trafficking and the resulting gun violence. The judges found 9-0 that Mexico did not present enough evidence to make that claim. But the high court’s decision did not address state laws against the PLCAA, such as New York’s.

The Supreme Court brief focusing on James was joined by 24 states: Montana, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

The district court notice was joined by 23 states: Montana, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

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They mark the latest in a series of gun-related court interventions from Knudsen, who previously led red states in opposing Hawaii’s carry restrictions and California’s magazine ban.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Letitia James’ office for comment, as well as an attorney in the Buffalo and Rochester cases.