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George Soros Accepts Challenge To Debate Firearm Industry
COLUMBUS, Ohio (October 13, 2004) – While speaking at a luncheon in Columbus, Ohio, sponsored by the Columbus Metropolitan Club, Billionaire George Soros accepted the challenge to debate the representative from the firearm trade association,The National Shooting Sports Foundation.
Following his prepared remarks, Soros accepted questions from the audience. Lawrence G. Keane, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, questioned Soros about his funding of junk lawsuits designed to bankrupt the firearm industry. Soros is the financier of international gun control organizations operating in the United Nations.
“We welcome the opportunity to debate Mr. Soros and to demand an explanation for his financing of lawsuits designed specifically to bankrupt the U.S. firearm industry, “ said Keane. “Mr. Soros wants to destroy firearm manufacturers and strip gun owners of their second amendment rights,†said Keane. Mr. Soros stated, “I look forward to the debate.â€
We hope Mr. Soros has the courage to schedule this debate immediately. The American people are entitled to know why he has selected Senator Kerry to carry out Soros’s anti gun, anti industry, pro trial lawyer, international agenda.
Mr. Soros financed two widely publicized lawsuits in Brooklyn, New York federal court that sought to blame members of the firearm industry for criminal shootings. In 1998, Soros bankrolled noted anti gun lawyer Elisa Barnes to the tune of $300,000 in the case of Hamilton v. Accu-Tek. A few years later, operating in the shadows of one of his foundations, the Open Society Institute, Soros contributed as much as $500,000 to Ms. Barnes’ suit filed on behalf of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) against members of the firearm industry. Both cases were improperly brought by Ms. Barnes before her handpicked gun judge, Jack B. Weinstein. The gun makers ultimately prevailed in both cases but only after lengthy trials that cost the defendants tens of millions of dollars to defend.
Either directly or through his foundations, Mr. Soros also makes substantial contributions to numerous gun control organizations and projects like the HELP Network, SAFE Colorado and the Million Mom March. He is also a major funding source for Rebecca Peters, an Australian who heads the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), whose goal is to attain strict limitations or outright bans on individual firearm ownership around the world through the United Nations. Peters played a pivotal role in the campaign that saw Australia enact prohibitions on semiautomatic and pump action rifles and shotguns, the kinds of guns used by hunters and sport shooters. In her efforts at global gun control, Peters told the United Nations the “international effort to restrict the flow of guns across borders must be accompanied by efforts to restrict the build-up of arsenals in private homes.â€
The National Shooting Sports Foundation is the trade association for the companies and businesses that make and sell firearms, ammunition and other products for the 40 million Americans who responsibly hunt and enjoy recreational shooting. Learn more at www.nssf.org.
Media Contact:
Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF
(203) 426-1320
COLUMBUS, Ohio (October 13, 2004) – While speaking at a luncheon in Columbus, Ohio, sponsored by the Columbus Metropolitan Club, Billionaire George Soros accepted the challenge to debate the representative from the firearm trade association,The National Shooting Sports Foundation.
Following his prepared remarks, Soros accepted questions from the audience. Lawrence G. Keane, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, questioned Soros about his funding of junk lawsuits designed to bankrupt the firearm industry. Soros is the financier of international gun control organizations operating in the United Nations.
“We welcome the opportunity to debate Mr. Soros and to demand an explanation for his financing of lawsuits designed specifically to bankrupt the U.S. firearm industry, “ said Keane. “Mr. Soros wants to destroy firearm manufacturers and strip gun owners of their second amendment rights,†said Keane. Mr. Soros stated, “I look forward to the debate.â€
We hope Mr. Soros has the courage to schedule this debate immediately. The American people are entitled to know why he has selected Senator Kerry to carry out Soros’s anti gun, anti industry, pro trial lawyer, international agenda.
Mr. Soros financed two widely publicized lawsuits in Brooklyn, New York federal court that sought to blame members of the firearm industry for criminal shootings. In 1998, Soros bankrolled noted anti gun lawyer Elisa Barnes to the tune of $300,000 in the case of Hamilton v. Accu-Tek. A few years later, operating in the shadows of one of his foundations, the Open Society Institute, Soros contributed as much as $500,000 to Ms. Barnes’ suit filed on behalf of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) against members of the firearm industry. Both cases were improperly brought by Ms. Barnes before her handpicked gun judge, Jack B. Weinstein. The gun makers ultimately prevailed in both cases but only after lengthy trials that cost the defendants tens of millions of dollars to defend.
Either directly or through his foundations, Mr. Soros also makes substantial contributions to numerous gun control organizations and projects like the HELP Network, SAFE Colorado and the Million Mom March. He is also a major funding source for Rebecca Peters, an Australian who heads the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), whose goal is to attain strict limitations or outright bans on individual firearm ownership around the world through the United Nations. Peters played a pivotal role in the campaign that saw Australia enact prohibitions on semiautomatic and pump action rifles and shotguns, the kinds of guns used by hunters and sport shooters. In her efforts at global gun control, Peters told the United Nations the “international effort to restrict the flow of guns across borders must be accompanied by efforts to restrict the build-up of arsenals in private homes.â€
The National Shooting Sports Foundation is the trade association for the companies and businesses that make and sell firearms, ammunition and other products for the 40 million Americans who responsibly hunt and enjoy recreational shooting. Learn more at www.nssf.org.
Media Contact:
Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF
(203) 426-1320