USA: "No legal shield for gun industry"

[cuchulainn]

from the San Francisco Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/04/09/ED70831.DTL

Wednesday, April 9, 2003
EDITORIAL
No legal shield for gun industry

GUN MANUFACTURERS and dealers want to be above the law. Most outrageously,

the House of Representatives appears ready to accommodate them.

The idea of singling out the gun industry for sweeping protection from lawsuits is not new. But it's a tough sell when the public is paying attention.

A proposal to do so, HR1036, was held up last year when the nation's capital was reeling with anger and fear from a series of sniper attacks.

With the nation now preoccupied with a war in Iraq, the gun-immunity bill is scheduled for a vote in the House today, and is expected to pass.

"They are definitely using the cover of war to get this through," said Eric Howard, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign, a Washington-based gun-control group.

The measure would effectively prohibit lawsuits -- at the state or federal level -- against gun and ammunition manufacturers, distributors, dealers and importers for any damages caused by the "misuse" of their product.

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, agreed to co-sponsor HR1036 because "reputable manufacturers" were being besieged with lawsuits. He said Tuesday that it was not fair to blame purveyors of a legal product for criminal activity they had nothing to do with.

But if passed, the bill would instantly wipe out dozens of lawsuits that have been filed by cities, counties and states that have been compiling evidence against dealers and manufacturers who cater to the criminal element. Examples include the manufacturer who designs and promotes its "fingerprint resistant" handgun and the wholesalers who know they are selling to unscrupulous dealers who have criminal clienteles.

If this bill becomes law, the two New Jersey police officers who were wounded in the line of duty will lose their lawsuit against a West Virginia pawnshop whose alleged recklessness put a gun in their assailant's hands. The families of the D.C. sniper will not be able to hold accountable the "Bull's Eye" gun store that claims it "lost" hundreds of assault rifles, including the one that allegedly was used by the snipers. The NAACP will never get a chance to finish showing a federal jury in New York its evidence of how shameful handgun-marketing practices have led to "disproportionate numbers of injuries, deaths and other damages" among minorities.

In a hard-fought battle, California legislators last year repealed a 1983 law that had given the gun industry broad immunity from litigation.

"It's just a straight National Rifle Association power play," Sen. Don Perata, the Oakland Democrat who authored last year's repeal in Sacramento, said of the new congressional bill. "I've never, ever understood why the gun industry should be the one industry that doesn't have to take responsibility for product liability. It makes no sense. It's pure politics.

"They're doing it because they can."

Congress will offer this gift to the industry unless you demand otherwise. .

You can find your representative's name and e-mail link by typing in your zip code at www.house.gov/writerep.

©2003 San Francisco Chronicle