§ 82.006.Firearms and Ammunition

A separate design defect standard for one category of product, and the second subsection is the substance.

In a design defect action against a manufacturer or seller of a firearm or ammunition, the claimant must prove, in addition to any other elements, that:

the actual design was defective, causing the firearm or ammunition not to function in a manner reasonably expected by an ordinary consumer of firearms or ammunition; and the defective design was a producing cause of the injury, damage, or death.

Subsection (b) forecloses the risk-utility approach. The claimant may not prove the existence of the defective design by a comparison or weighing of the benefits of the firearm or ammunition against the risk of personal injury, property damage, or death posed by its potential to cause such injury when discharged.

That removes the argument the section exists to address: that a firearm is defectively designed because it is dangerous when it works as intended. A product designed to fire a projectile is dangerous by design, and the section says that cannot be the defect.

What remains is a consumer expectation test. A firearm that fires when the safety is engaged, explodes, or discharges when dropped has failed to function as an ordinary consumer would expect, and that claim is unaffected.

"In addition to any other elements" means this is cumulative. The general design defect section's safer alternative design requirement applies as well, so a firearm claimant must prove both.