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Gun Dealers, Distributers Agree to Reforms to Curb Illegal Market in CA
Companies Settle Lawsuits Brought by CA Cities, Counties
8/21/03 10:42:00 AM
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To: National Desk
Contact: Eric Howard of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence United with the Million Mom March, 202-898-0792; http://www.bradycampaign.org
WASHINGTON, Aug. 21 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In a significant development in the fight by cities and counties to reform the gun industry, five industry defendants have agreed to change the way they do business in return for being released, shortly before trial, from lawsuits by twelve California cities and counties.
The gun industry defendants -- two California gun dealers and three gun distributors who sold guns into California -- agreed to take steps that go above and beyond current federal and state law to prevent firearms from being sold into the underground market in California. The agreed-upon reforms are part of settlements to be approved by the trial court.
"These settlements show, beyond a doubt, that the gun industry can do much more to curb the deadly flow of guns from retail stores into the underground market," said Dennis Henigan, Director of the Legal Action Project at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. "There is now no question that the lawsuits brought by California communities have begun to pay dividends for the safety and security of their citizens. These companies should be commended for doing the right thing. When will the rest of the gun industry follow?"
The twelve California jurisdictions are represented by Brady Center attorneys, as co-counsel with Milberg, Weiss, Bershad, Hynes & Lerach of San Diego and Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann, and Bernstein of San Francisco. West Hollywood is also represented by the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence. The cases charge that the gun dealers, distributors and manufacturers contribute to a public nuisance and violate California law by selling guns without ensuring safe sales practices to prevent sales by retailers to straw purchasers and gun traffickers. In a ruling issued on May 2, 2003, the Superior Court of California in San Diego allowed the cases against the dealers and distributors to proceed to trial, set to begin October 10, 2003. The Court dismissed the manufacturer-defendants from the suit, a ruling that recently was appealed by the municipalities.
As an example of the reforms accepted by the gun industry defendants, Traders' Sports, a gun dealer located near Oakland, CA, agreed that it would take the following extra steps as part of a permanent Consent Decree to be administered by the Court. Traders' will:
-- Not sell firearms at gun shows;
-- Implement an enhanced inventory tracking plan to ensure that firearms are not lost or stolen;
-- Annually train all employees how to recognize and block sales to straw purchasers;
-- Adopt as the store's policy "to go beyond the law in verifying the identity of the actual purchaser of a firearm"; and
-- Maintain electronically all firearm trace requests conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and provide that information, upon request, to gun manufacturers and distributors, which would enable them to monitor the conduct of the dealers who sell their firearms.
Southern Ohio Gun Distributors also agreed to go beyond the law to sell only to storefront gun dealers in California and neighboring states, to take extra steps to verify dealer licenses, to restrict sales of assault weapons, and to pay $50,000 to compensate the plaintiffs for some of the costs of bringing suit. Southern Ohio had sold hundreds of guns to a gun trafficker who had obviously falsified a dealer's license and resold the guns on the street. Andrew's Sporting Goods, a Southern California chain of dealers, Ellett Brothers, a Georgia-based distributor, and MKS Supply, an Ohio distributor, also agreed to reforms.
The dealers and distributors agreed to the reforms at a time when the gun industry and the National Rifle Association are pressuring Congress to enact a bill, S.659, to give sweeping legal immunity to the gun industry. Proponents of the bill have decried lawsuits filed by cities and counties as "frivolous."
"Those who have labeled these lawsuits as 'frivolous' owe an apology to these California communities," said Mr. Henigan. "Only because these jurisdictions were able to assert their legal rights against gun sellers were these reforms possible. Exempting the gun industry from the rules of law that apply to everyone else will only ensure the 'business as usual' by gun sellers that supplies the criminal market with deadly weaponry."
Evidence against the gun industry, based largely on internal industry documents obtained in the California lawsuits, has been revealed in a Brady Center special report entitled Smoking Guns: Exposing the Gun Industry's Complicity in the Illegal Gun Market, available at www.gunlawsuits.org.
The twelve California jurisdictions with suits against the gun industry include: Los Angeles County and Los Angeles, Inglewood, Compton, and West Hollywood in Southern California, and San Francisco, Sacramento, Oakland, Berkeley, East Palo Alto, Alameda County, and San Mateo County in Northern California.
Representatives from the following jurisdictions will be available to answer questions regarding the settlements:
Los Angeles County: Larry Hafetz, 213-974-1876
Los Angeles City: Eric Moses, 213-978-8371
San Francisco: Matt Dorsey, 415-554-4662
The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, and its sister organization, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence united with the Million Mom March, are dedicated to reducing gun violence in the United States through education, grassroots mobilization, civil litigation against the gun industry, political action and support for common sense gun safety laws on the local, state and national levels. Formerly known as Handgun Control, the Brady Campaign fought for passage of the Brady Law, the assault weapons ban and other reasonable gun laws. Sarah Brady, wife of former Reagan Presidential Press Secretary Jim Brady, serves as Chair of the Brady Campaign.
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