Below is Editorial from the NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/opinion/06fri3.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/opinion/06fri3.html
June 6, 2008
Editorial
Combating Illegal Guns
Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s campaign against illegal guns won a notable victory this week when a Georgia gun dealer decided to default rather than go to trial in a civil lawsuit that accused him of illegally selling handguns that were later used to commit crimes in New York.
The last-minute retreat by the dealer, Jay Wallace, is new vindication of Mr. Bloomberg’s strategy for holding irresponsible gun dealers accountable. It is part of the mayor’s larger battle against atrocious federal laws that shield the gun industry from having to account for the crimes committed with guns that they provide.
Mr. Wallace’s decision paves the way for court appointment of a federal monitor to oversee guns sales at his store. Twenty other dealers have settled lawsuits filed by the city in this manner.
In 2006, New York sued 27 gun dealers in Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio, claiming their lax screening practices and illegal guns sales created a public nuisance in the city.
The suit navigates some tricky legal terrain. Bowing to the gun lobby three years ago, Congress passed a law to protect the gun industry from such lawsuits. A federal appeals court last month tossed out a city suit against gun makers and distributors. But the 2005 statute does not cover illegal gun sales, leaving room for the city to proceed against gun dealers.
The early evidence indicates that the city’s litigation is having an effect on the “iron pipeline” of illegal guns used to commit crimes in New York. A court filing in the city’s case shows a 75 percent drop in such guns coming from a sample of the dealers sued. Between 2006 and 2007, there was a 16 percent drop in the number of guns used in crimes in New York that were traced to any dealer in the states where the sued dealers are located.
The city’s success provides a model for other jurisdictions. There is also a lesson for Congress, which last year rebuffed Mr. Bloomberg’s effort to win repeal of the so-called Tiahrt amendment, a 5-year-old law that blocks access to a federal database that traces guns used in crime back to particular dealers. The city was able to file its civil lawsuit using trace data collected before the ban. But as time passes, that data will become less and less useful, making it even harder to stop gun dealers whose sleazy conduct results in violence.