Court Gives Indiana City Go Ahead to Sue Gun Makers
By: Administrative Account | Source: CNSNews.com
October 31, 2007 10:22AM EST

By Monisha Bansal
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
October 31, 2007

(CNSNews.com) - The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Monday that the city of Gary, Ind., could sue gun manufacturers, though federal law currently prohibits such lawsuits. Gun control advocates are hailing the ruling as a victory, but gun rights groups said the federal law will be upheld.

The case originated in 1999 with a sting conducted by Gary police of northern Indiana gun dealers. According to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a liberal gun control organization, the gun dealers supplied more than 60 percent of the crime guns recovered in the city.

Gary also sued the major gun makers who sold handguns through these dealerships, claiming they knowingly profited from the diversion of guns to criminals.

Brian Siebel, a senior attorney with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and co-counsel representing the City of Gary, told Cybercast News Service that the lawsuit comes under an exception to the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, because it does not shield gun manufacturers from liability for sales practices that knowingly violate Indiana's public nuisance statute.

Trial is set to begin in 2009 against the 16 gun manufacturers and six northern Indiana gun dealers.

"The citizens of Gary may finally have their day in court and help put an end to the unlawful practices of gun makers that funnel guns into the criminal market," Siebel said.

But Ashley Varner, a spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association, said, "Criminals are a public nuisance, not law-abiding firearm manufacturers."

"The gun industry is not responsible for violence by criminals," she told Cybercast News Service. "They are trying to blame the firearms industry ... for criminal activity, which is ridiculous."

"This ruling is an important victory for the people of Gary and the rest of Indiana who have suffered from the distribution of guns to criminals and gun traffickers because of the practices of the gun industry," added Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Center, in a statement. "When the gun industry injures the public, it should be held accountable."

David Workman, senior editor of Gun Week, said: "The gun industry isn't hurting the public and they know it. This is just another effort by the Brady Campaign to demonize firearms manufacturers and retailers who sell firearms and people who own firearms."

"The real problem - that we all would like to solve - is the criminal misuse of firearms," he told Cybercast News Service. "The gun industry is a legal, highly regulated industry and they're not responsible for the acts of people who misuse firearms."

"Gary's frivolous lawsuit is the poster child for the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act," said Lawrence Keane, senior vice president and general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association of the firearms industry.

"It is like blaming car makers for drunk-driving accidents," he said in a statement.

Varner said she believed the "law would prevail," and that the act is "now the law of the land, and that means that law-abiding manufacturers and retailers cannot be held responsible for the actions of criminals."

"It's a very clear cut law, and we expect that some activist judges are going to try to challenge it," she said. "It's because of politically motivated lawsuits that Congress had to pass this bill in the first place."

But Siebel noted that this was not a case of activism. He said the 3-0 decision Monday came from a conservative state and a court that has not been known for judicial activism.

Varner added that cities should be tough on prosecuting crimes, instead of suing the gun industry.

"Our country has some big city mayors who don't want to take responsibility for the crime in their cities," she said. "They would rather point their fingers of blame at firearm manufacturers. They don't want to crack down on criminal activity."

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