Desertdog
Member
It would be nice if the gun industry could recover their legal cost.
Federal Court Dismisses Another Lawsuit Against Gun Industry
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200801/NAT20080111c.html
(CNSNews.com) - A federal court has once again invoked a 2005 law in dismissing a lawsuit filed against 25 gun manufacturers on behalf of nine "gun crime" victims.
The 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act is intended to protect the gun industry from politically motivated lawsuits.
The Second Amendment Foundation applauded the unanimous decision by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
"The courts, and the American public, realize that manufacturers, no matter who they are, cannot be blamed for the actions of individuals who misuse their products, whether they are golf clubs, baseball bats, automobiles or firearms," said Second Amendment Foundation Founder Alan Gottlieb said.
The lawsuit was filed in January 2000, but according to the opinion written by Associate Judge Michael William Farrell, the 2005 law required the court to dismiss the case. Judge Farrell wrote that Congress, in passing the law, wanted to "prohibit [lawsuits] against manufacturers ... for the harm solely caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse of firearms products ..." Allowing the lawsuit to proceed "would, in our view, frustrate Congress' clear intention."
It was lawsuits like this one that led to passage of the federal law in the first place, Gottlieb said.
"We're proud of the tenacity shown by American firearms makers, and their refusal to be bullied by this kind of legal harassment," Gottlieb said in a news release.
"Such lawsuits threaten the gun rights of all law-abiding citizens by posing a threat to the very life of the nation's firearms industry. It is no secret that such lawsuits have been launched not simply to blame gun companies for out-of-control crime, but to put them out of business through a financial and legal war of attrition."
A federal judge in California dismissed a "public nuisance" lawsuit against a gun manufacturer and a gun distributor in March 2006, and that was the first time the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act was used to block such a lawsuit.
Federal Court Dismisses Another Lawsuit Against Gun Industry
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200801/NAT20080111c.html
(CNSNews.com) - A federal court has once again invoked a 2005 law in dismissing a lawsuit filed against 25 gun manufacturers on behalf of nine "gun crime" victims.
The 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act is intended to protect the gun industry from politically motivated lawsuits.
The Second Amendment Foundation applauded the unanimous decision by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
"The courts, and the American public, realize that manufacturers, no matter who they are, cannot be blamed for the actions of individuals who misuse their products, whether they are golf clubs, baseball bats, automobiles or firearms," said Second Amendment Foundation Founder Alan Gottlieb said.
The lawsuit was filed in January 2000, but according to the opinion written by Associate Judge Michael William Farrell, the 2005 law required the court to dismiss the case. Judge Farrell wrote that Congress, in passing the law, wanted to "prohibit [lawsuits] against manufacturers ... for the harm solely caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse of firearms products ..." Allowing the lawsuit to proceed "would, in our view, frustrate Congress' clear intention."
It was lawsuits like this one that led to passage of the federal law in the first place, Gottlieb said.
"We're proud of the tenacity shown by American firearms makers, and their refusal to be bullied by this kind of legal harassment," Gottlieb said in a news release.
"Such lawsuits threaten the gun rights of all law-abiding citizens by posing a threat to the very life of the nation's firearms industry. It is no secret that such lawsuits have been launched not simply to blame gun companies for out-of-control crime, but to put them out of business through a financial and legal war of attrition."
A federal judge in California dismissed a "public nuisance" lawsuit against a gun manufacturer and a gun distributor in March 2006, and that was the first time the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act was used to block such a lawsuit.