COHEN: Your announcement about the Access to Justice for Victims Act suggests that you want to reform, not repeal, the 2005 Arms Act. What exactly is it about the 2005 that you want to keep and how precisely would your legislation change the old law?

Rep. SCHIFF: Our bill restores the right to bring actions against negligent manufacturers and dealers, while not subjecting the gun industry to any greater level of liability than any other industry for the independent actions of others.

COHEN: The gun lobby -- and conservatives in Congress -- are likely to challenge this measure both as an infringement upon 2nd Amendment rights and as a step backward from what they like to call "tort reform." What's your response to that? How are you going to counter the "tort reform" (read: anti-business) argument you are going to hear?

Rep. SCHIFF: We may well hear the same tired argument that giving victims of gun violence the same rights as every other American violates the Second Amendment, but that argument just does not hold up. Since PLCAA was passed in 2005, the Supreme Court decided in Heller that the Second Amendment does guarantee an individual right for law abiding Americans to own guns. While this decision should do away with the gun confiscation fears of the NRA, the Supreme Court has never held or even suggested that this right encompasses the further right to act negligently with guns in a way that endangers others.

As for tort reform, we're not asking for special treatment for gun victims - just the chance to make their case in court like an American injured by a BB gun or a car or any other product or inherently dangerous instrument. Moreover, civil justice is primarily an issue of state statutes and common law. If states want to pass laws limiting liability for gun companies and sellers in their state -- and in fact many have done so -- nothing in my bill stops them from doing that. It simply says that we're not going to impose a federal mandate over states who believe that civil remedies help to keep their citizens safe and are in the interest of justice.

COHEN: When I looked at the 2005 act, I was struck by how it was generally designed and supported by Tenth Amendment advocates -- lawmakers who stoutly defend states' rights -- but that it undermines the ability of state judges and state juries to hear gun negligence cases. How does your new legislation fit into the political battle over federalism?

Rep. SCHIFF: It is very strange that many of PLCAA's supporters have such an expansive view of the Tenth Amendment when it comes to issues like health care, but so constrained a view when it comes to superseding state laws protecting victims of gun violence. There is room for disagreement on the appropriate remedies for victims of gun violence, but that's a debate that should be left to each state. It was unwise of Congress in 2005 to wade into state tort laws to shield gun companies, and it remains so today.