The anti-gun crusaders really will stop at nothing to try to disarm law-abiding Americans. Now, in a case filed in a state court in Nevada, a group of Catholic nuns is suing Smith & Wesson over their manufacture and distribution of AR-15-pattern rifles. Here's the catch: The nuns in question have bought Smith & Wesson stock, and are carrying out this action as shareholders.

A group of Catholic nuns on Tuesday sued the board of Smith & Wesson to try to force the gunmaker to abandon the manufacture, marketing and sales of assault-style rifles that have been used in U.S. mass shootings.

The nuns, in a lawsuit filed in state court in Nevada, allege that Smith & Wesson's directors and senior management exposed the company to significant liability by intentionally violating federal, state and local laws and failing to respond to lawsuits over mass shootings.

"These rifles have no purpose other than mass murder," the nuns said in a statement.

Smith & Wesson, which is incorporated in Nevada, did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Point of order: It's certainly not in Smith & Wesson's best interest to comment at this juncture, certainly not to the legacy media, who will happily pile on to the nun's side of this. But leaving that aside, let's look at the sentence above from the nuns' statement:

"These rifles have no purpose other than mass murder," the nuns said in a statement.

What utter dreck, nonsense, hogwash, poppycock, and flapdoodle. There are millions of AR-pattern rifles in the United States today. They are used for a wide variety of purposes, almost none of which are mass murder (I have a son-in-law who uses his to hunt coyotes) and the pattern, while it may be black and scary to people who, like these nuns, know nothing whatsoever about firearms, is broadly useful for a wide range of purposes, from punching holes in paper to home/community defense. It's a very adaptable piece; with the simple expedient of swapping upper receivers and magazines, one can go from a paper puncher to a long-range varmint piece to a short-barreled .450 Bushmaster thumper for whitetails or feral hogs.

None of that matters, of course, to the plaintiffs here. They aren't concerned with honest citizens defending themselves and their homes. They aren't concerned with small business owners protecting their property from looters. Much like the Biden administration on this topic, they are operating from presumptions based on a profound ignorance of the subject as well as a hyper-emotional response to instances of tragedy that, while awful, comprise a tiny, tiny percentage of the firearms used in the United States.

Here, though, is where U.S. News and World Report goes from reporting to advocacy and lies in the bargain:

For many years, gunmakers enjoyed broad immunity for liability from mass shootings due to a 2005 U.S. law known as the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.

No. This is wrong. This is a lie. A cynical and almost certainly deliberate lie. The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act does not shield gunmakers from all liability; it shields them from liability for the criminal use of their products. Gun manufacturers remain liable, like any other company, for manufacturing or design flaws that result in injury. The Act prevented frivolous civil suits, like this one brought by the nuns, that are the legal equivalent of suing General Motors for deaths caused by drunk drivers.

Smith & Wesson has not been accused of breaking any law, and that's because they have not done so. A company that has been in business since 1856 cannot survive until today by being careless about following the labyrinth of laws that surround their products. This lawsuit is frivolous, it is legal harassment, pure and simple, and if there is any real justice left in the nation's courts, it will be tossed out with prejudice by the first judge who gets a look at it.

YouTube's own Liberty Doll has some thoughts on the topic:

If you aren't catching her on YouTube already, take a look at her channel; she's great at breaking down a variety of firearms issues quickly, cleanly, and with style.