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On Feb. 3, 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden claimed in a speech about gun violence and policing in New York City that gun manufacturers are part of the only industry in America that is exempt from being sued. Sitting next to New York State officials, including Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Merrick Garland, Biden asserted the following, according to video footage of the event and the official White House transcript: [See The Associated Press' coverage of Biden's full remarks in New York City here.] Conservative media outlets such as Townhall.com and the National Review highlighted the above-transcribed claim by the president, and numerous commentators called into question its legitimacy. The president's statement was untrue on multiple levels. While the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act provides gun manufacturers some exemptions in liability (it grants them immunity against lawsuits alleging wrongdoing because their products were used in crimes), people can still sue gun manufacturers for a variety of reasons and be successful. Next, the country's gun-making industry is not the only sector for which federal lawmakers have developed some liability protections. For example, the federal government has granted vaccine manufacturers such as Pfizer and Moderna immunity from liability if something goes unintentionally wrong with their COVID-19 shots, as reported by CNBC. CNN fact-checking database said of the president's Feb. 3 claim: For those reasons, we rate this claim False. We reached out the White House's press office in an email that laid out the above-outlined evidence that proves the president's statement wrong. We will update this report when, or if, we receive a comment.
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