For folks that wish to see the full judicial history of this case, here is the archive hosted by CourtListener.

In chronological order, the Second Circuit gives us the background so we can examine the history in brief:

• October 2005: the US Congress passes a law that absolves liability for gun/ammo manufacturers and distributors, when relating to firearms misuse by others
• July 2021: the New York State Assembly approves and the Governor signs into law Section 898-b, which imposes civil liability from the sale/marketing of firearms
• December 2021: the National Shooting Sports Foundation and some gun manufacturers (collectively "NSSF") file suit against NY Attorney General in the Northern District for New York (NDNY) federal court, with two counts relating to federal preemption, one on interstate commerce, and one related to vagueness
• May 2022: NDNY issues its judgement, finding that liability from sale/marketing of firearms is distinct from Congress's absolved liability for firearms misuse by others, thus presenting no conflict. Interstate commerce is no issue since 898-b applies to both in-state and out-of-state gun manufacturers. Vagueness is premature because the law hasn't been applied yet.
• June 2022: NSSF files it appeal to the Second Circuit. Their brief rehashes the same claims made earlier, such as how 898-b will affect out-of-state marketing (thus being interstate commerce), that Congress must have also intended any lawsuit to prove a knowing/proximate-cause standard (which a marketing lawsuit would not require), and then finally a public policy argument that state-by-state gun marketing laws would cause chaos
• July 2025: the Second Circuit issues its opinion, affirming the NDNY judgement. The Circuit rejected the extraterritorial argument since 898-b requires a NY state nexus for all that it would punish. They also rejected Congressional intent that isn't in the written statute. And by Congress's own terms, it is allowable to criminalize a predicate offense by a gun manufacturer, which is exactly what 898-b does.
• February 2026: NSSF petitions the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to hear their appeal, with two main arguments, 1) the Second Circuit's opinion is different than the other Circuit's, which would result in different law for different parts of the country, and 2) rehashing their public policy argument again, that states can now end-run the federal law on gun liability
• May 2026: SCOTUS begins distributing the case work and examining the petition
• 15 June 2026: SCOTUS declines to hear the appeal, ending any further appeal and leaving the Second Circuit's opinion in place. Other Circuits are not affected.

Essentially, what NDNY and the Second Circuit held is that the federal law was specifically about suing gun manufacturers for gun violence caused by some third party. The most charitable read is that Congress did not want the courts to be clogged up by lawyers coming up with way-too-creative theories about how a gun seller or manufacturer could have liability, years or decades after selling any particular gun. But the "predicate exemption" in that federal law allows states to still put liability on gun manufacturers for things that occur prior to a shooting.

For example, a gun manufacturer that is negligent in requiring their New York State retailers to do background checks, they might be liable under 898-b. This is not a creative theory under law -- negligence is punishable -- and it is a single, predictable event that can be adjudicated. Whereas Congress wanted to forbid, for example, liability for anything that's even in-range of a firearm; this is far too specious and hence is disallowed.

Essentially, NY narrowly tailored their law and it held.

I feel like i say this a lot but... shocking.