cuchulainn
March 10, 2003, 04:36 PM
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news/1047291345205140.xml
from the Birmingham News
Davis co-sponsors bill NRA calls top priority
03/10/03
MARY ORNDORFF
News Washington correspondent
WASHINGTON Rep. Artur Davis was no friend to the National Rifle Association when he ran for Congress, supporting trigger locks and criticizing his opponent for accepting campaign help from gun-rights advocates.
But now the freshman Democrat from Birmingham is co-sponsoring a bill that the NRA has labeled its top legislative priority for the year.
The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act would insulate gun manufacturers from liability when their products are misused. It would block future civil lawsuits against them and kill any already working their way through the courts.
"My sense is that obviously we allow guns to be sold in this country and to say manufacturers should be held accountable when they sell a lawful product, that strikes me as a bit unreasonable," Davis said.
The bill was close to becoming law last year but was derailed by the political climate created during the Washington-area sniper attacks. It returns this year with more than half of the members of the U.S. House of Representatives having declared their support, including all seven members of the Alabama delegation. The bill has 231 co-sponsors.
Davis' name, however, stands out.
Segments of his 7th Congressional District have not looked kindly on the NRA's positions in the past, as former Rep. Earl Hilliard learned in 2000. A key black political organization, concerned about the impact of gun violence on black youth, threatened not to endorse the incumbent because of his NRA ties. Hilliard, who incidentally co-sponsored the lawsuit ban in the last Congress, quickly changed gears and refused the NRA's political help.
Davis beat Hilliard in the Democratic primary two years later.
"The NRA is certainly not a supporter of mine, but I don't believe in penalizing the NRA if they have a good position on an issue," Davis said.
To Davis, a lawyer, the NRA-backed bill is more of about controlling what he considers frivolous lawsuits than preserving gun ownership rights. He said he fears that the legal theory in such cases could be improperly extended to any number of other products that someone might use to commit a crime, including knives and cars.
"I think this is a legitimate effort to rein in some of these lawsuits," Davis said.
He said the law would not prevent lawsuits if a gun manufacturer sells a defective firearm, is negligent or breaks the law.
Gun-control advocates, however, say the bill would absolve an entire industry of responsibility for the damage guns in the wrong hands can do.
"This kind of sweeping immunity isn't tort reform. It shuts the courthouse doors to victims of crime," said Rob Wilcox, spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. The American Trial Lawyers Association, whose political action committee donated to Davis' election campaign, also has announced its opposition to the bill.
The Brady Campaign says the proposed law would protect manufacturers, distributors, dealers and importers if they sell guns to someone who "clearly intends" to resell them to criminals. Only when the maker or seller breaks the law or negligently, knowingly and directly provides the gun to a criminal would a lawsuit still be allowed a much tougher standard of proof. For example, a pending case against the Tacoma, Wash., dealer who cannot account for the Bushmaster rifle used in the D.C.-area sniper attacks would be immune from civil liability.
Opponents of the bill also say the legal system is the only check on an industry already exempt from federal consumer product safety oversight.
"If these cases are so frivolous, why are they so afraid to let them go forward? If they're so confident of their position, why do they go to the legislatures and to Congress to shut them down?" asked Matt Nosanchuk, litigation director for the Violence Policy Center in Washington.
Alabama in 2000 became one of more than 30 states to bar its cities and counties from filing lawsuits against gun manufacturers, dealers and associations, a ban that would be expanded considerably by the federal law.
©2003 al.com.
from the Birmingham News
Davis co-sponsors bill NRA calls top priority
03/10/03
MARY ORNDORFF
News Washington correspondent
WASHINGTON Rep. Artur Davis was no friend to the National Rifle Association when he ran for Congress, supporting trigger locks and criticizing his opponent for accepting campaign help from gun-rights advocates.
But now the freshman Democrat from Birmingham is co-sponsoring a bill that the NRA has labeled its top legislative priority for the year.
The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act would insulate gun manufacturers from liability when their products are misused. It would block future civil lawsuits against them and kill any already working their way through the courts.
"My sense is that obviously we allow guns to be sold in this country and to say manufacturers should be held accountable when they sell a lawful product, that strikes me as a bit unreasonable," Davis said.
The bill was close to becoming law last year but was derailed by the political climate created during the Washington-area sniper attacks. It returns this year with more than half of the members of the U.S. House of Representatives having declared their support, including all seven members of the Alabama delegation. The bill has 231 co-sponsors.
Davis' name, however, stands out.
Segments of his 7th Congressional District have not looked kindly on the NRA's positions in the past, as former Rep. Earl Hilliard learned in 2000. A key black political organization, concerned about the impact of gun violence on black youth, threatened not to endorse the incumbent because of his NRA ties. Hilliard, who incidentally co-sponsored the lawsuit ban in the last Congress, quickly changed gears and refused the NRA's political help.
Davis beat Hilliard in the Democratic primary two years later.
"The NRA is certainly not a supporter of mine, but I don't believe in penalizing the NRA if they have a good position on an issue," Davis said.
To Davis, a lawyer, the NRA-backed bill is more of about controlling what he considers frivolous lawsuits than preserving gun ownership rights. He said he fears that the legal theory in such cases could be improperly extended to any number of other products that someone might use to commit a crime, including knives and cars.
"I think this is a legitimate effort to rein in some of these lawsuits," Davis said.
He said the law would not prevent lawsuits if a gun manufacturer sells a defective firearm, is negligent or breaks the law.
Gun-control advocates, however, say the bill would absolve an entire industry of responsibility for the damage guns in the wrong hands can do.
"This kind of sweeping immunity isn't tort reform. It shuts the courthouse doors to victims of crime," said Rob Wilcox, spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. The American Trial Lawyers Association, whose political action committee donated to Davis' election campaign, also has announced its opposition to the bill.
The Brady Campaign says the proposed law would protect manufacturers, distributors, dealers and importers if they sell guns to someone who "clearly intends" to resell them to criminals. Only when the maker or seller breaks the law or negligently, knowingly and directly provides the gun to a criminal would a lawsuit still be allowed a much tougher standard of proof. For example, a pending case against the Tacoma, Wash., dealer who cannot account for the Bushmaster rifle used in the D.C.-area sniper attacks would be immune from civil liability.
Opponents of the bill also say the legal system is the only check on an industry already exempt from federal consumer product safety oversight.
"If these cases are so frivolous, why are they so afraid to let them go forward? If they're so confident of their position, why do they go to the legislatures and to Congress to shut them down?" asked Matt Nosanchuk, litigation director for the Violence Policy Center in Washington.
Alabama in 2000 became one of more than 30 states to bar its cities and counties from filing lawsuits against gun manufacturers, dealers and associations, a ban that would be expanded considerably by the federal law.
©2003 al.com.