U.S. SUPREME COURT ALLOWS SUIT AGAINST ASSAULT WEAPON
MANUFACTURERS TO GO FORWARD
For Immediate Release:
10-03-2005 Contact Communications:
(202) 289-7319
10/3/05 - The U.S. Supreme Court today refused to block a lawsuit by the District of Columbia, as well as several D.C. residents injured or killed by gunfire, against gun manufacturers under D.C.’s Assault Weapons Manufacturing Strict Liability Act. The gun industry claimed that the Act, which makes assault weapon manufacturers and sellers strictly liable for injuries that result from the criminal use of those guns in the District, violated the U.S. Constitution and asked the Supreme Court to review the case. District Of Columbia v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp.
On April 21, 2005, the D.C. Court of Appeals upheld the District’s strict liability act and allowed claims by nine individual victims of gun violence to go forward under the act, rejecting claims by the gun industry that the act regulates out-of-state gun manufacturers in violation of the interstate commerce clause. On July 20, 2005, the defendants asked the Court to overturn the D.C. Court of Appeals’ ruling and strike down the strict liability statute as unconstitutional, which the Supreme Court denied.
The ruling also paves the way for claims brought by the family of Pascal Charlot, the sixth victim of the D.C.-area sniper shootings in 2002. Pascal was shot with a Bushmaster assault rifle and his family brought suit against Bushmaster under the District’s strict liability act.
The strict liability act, the only one of its kind in the nation, provides that anyone who manufactures, imports, or sells an assault weapon or any firearm which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily converted or restored to shoot more than more than 12 shots semi-automatically without reloading, is liable for all direct and consequential damages that arise from bodily injury or death caused by the weapon in the District.
Lawsuits brought under the strict liability statute could still be thrown out if legislation granting the gun industry unprecedented immunity from civil liability is passed by Congress. The Senate passed the legislation in July and it is pending in the House.
MANUFACTURERS TO GO FORWARD
For Immediate Release:
10-03-2005 Contact Communications:
(202) 289-7319
10/3/05 - The U.S. Supreme Court today refused to block a lawsuit by the District of Columbia, as well as several D.C. residents injured or killed by gunfire, against gun manufacturers under D.C.’s Assault Weapons Manufacturing Strict Liability Act. The gun industry claimed that the Act, which makes assault weapon manufacturers and sellers strictly liable for injuries that result from the criminal use of those guns in the District, violated the U.S. Constitution and asked the Supreme Court to review the case. District Of Columbia v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp.
On April 21, 2005, the D.C. Court of Appeals upheld the District’s strict liability act and allowed claims by nine individual victims of gun violence to go forward under the act, rejecting claims by the gun industry that the act regulates out-of-state gun manufacturers in violation of the interstate commerce clause. On July 20, 2005, the defendants asked the Court to overturn the D.C. Court of Appeals’ ruling and strike down the strict liability statute as unconstitutional, which the Supreme Court denied.
The ruling also paves the way for claims brought by the family of Pascal Charlot, the sixth victim of the D.C.-area sniper shootings in 2002. Pascal was shot with a Bushmaster assault rifle and his family brought suit against Bushmaster under the District’s strict liability act.
The strict liability act, the only one of its kind in the nation, provides that anyone who manufactures, imports, or sells an assault weapon or any firearm which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily converted or restored to shoot more than more than 12 shots semi-automatically without reloading, is liable for all direct and consequential damages that arise from bodily injury or death caused by the weapon in the District.
Lawsuits brought under the strict liability statute could still be thrown out if legislation granting the gun industry unprecedented immunity from civil liability is passed by Congress. The Senate passed the legislation in July and it is pending in the House.
