Really despicable but not surprising.

Anti-Second Amendment groups got involved in a landmark climate case months before the first lawyer entered the Supreme Court’s chambers to deliver oral arguments in Suncor Energy v. Board of County Commissioners of Boulder County.

Boulder County and the city of Boulder, Colorado, sued Suncor and other energy companies, claiming they misled the public about how fossil fuels affect the climate while continuing to sell them. In a little-reported 41-page brief filed with the Supreme Court in August, Brady United and the Giffords Law Center backed Boulder County, saying that they often sued firearms manufacturers using similar legal theories as the Colorado jurisdiction was using in its suit against energy conglomerates.

“Among the litigation that amici have filed and supported are lawsuits against gun manufacturers for certain conduct alleged to constitute a public nuisance at common law,” the groups said in a statement of interest at the start of the brief. “Amici submit this brief in support of respondents to discuss those suits and other exercises of the States’ police powers through litigation.”

Boulder County and the city of Boulder sued Suncor and other energy companies for allegedly misleading the public about fossil fuels and climate change while still selling them. In an August amicus brief, Brady and Giffords backed Boulder, saying they sue gun makers under the same public-nuisance theory and want the Court to preserve states’ power to bring such cases.

The real motive is a loss in the fossil case could also undermine suits against firearm makers. The pattern is to bypass Congress, sue the maker rather than the user in state court, seek damages, and blame the product. A win against oil could then be reused against guns, plastics, or cars, and nearly sixty cities are waiting on the outcome.

EarthRights International, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Brady, and Giffords want companies alone blamed for the climate change in order to shut them down. Skip Congress. Sue the manufacturer, not the user, in state court, seek only money, and treat the product as the cause. Win on oil, and the same claim is ready for guns, then plastics, then cars. Nearly sixty cities are waiting on this case. Other causes of the weather are left out, because the suit works only if corporations are solely responsible.

PHOTO CREDIT: Pixabay