Nearly all consumer products on the market are regulated for safety. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), established in 1972 to protect American consumers from unreasonable risk from dangerous products, has the authority to create safety standards for products, demand recalls of defective products, and prohibit the sale of hazardous products. A look at the CPSC website demonstrates the broad range of products currently regulated--everything from teddy bears to sponges.
Firearms, however, are exempt. No federal, state or local agency has the authority to establish, much less enforce, health and safety standards for the design of guns.
The Firearms Safety and Consumer Protection Act of 2001, the Toricelli-Kennedy Bill, would prescribe guidelines governing the design, manufacture and performance of, and commerce in, firearms products as reasonably necessary to reduce or prevent unreasonable risk of injury. It would allow for recalls and repairs of defective guns and demand that safety features be incorporated into the design of new guns.
Product safety standards are proven life savers for other kinds of products. After the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was created, automobile crash fatality rates dropped significantly. Since passage of the Poison Prevention Packaging Act requiring child-resistant packaging, the CPSC estimates that more than 700 children's lives have been saved from accidental poisoning by prescription drugs and aspirin alone.
And surveys show that the majority of Americans (66%) want Congress to regulate guns as consumer products.