By
Jon Dougherty
A noted gun-rights organization has denounced a series of
lawsuits against the firearm industry as financially
debilitating and a danger to national security.
Gun Owners of America,
a 300,000-strong advocacy group based in Springfield, Va., says
the latest suits, which are being led by the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People, could
bankrupt gun makers who must dole out thousands upon thousands
of dollars in their own defense.
Also, said Erich Pratt, the group's spokesman, "the
NAACP is helping to cripple the very industry that supplies our
men with their weapons," even as U.S. troops are fighting
abroad.
M-16A2 battle rifle, the
standard issue weapon for U.S. troops, is manufactured
only by Colt Firearms, one of the firms named in the
NAACP's most recent gun industry lawsuit. |
"The president of the NAACP has described his suit as
part of an effort to 'break the backs' of those in the gun
industry," said Pratt. "These lawsuits are nothing but
judicial terrorism."
GOA says dozens of industry lawsuits have been filed by
"anti-gun" groups and local politicians. Though not a
single suit has been successful in court, one gunmaker –
Navegar Inc., maker of the TEC-9 and TEC-9DC semi-automatic
pistol – has already been forced to declare bankruptcy.
The Navegar case made it all the way to the California
Supreme Court; justices threw out an appeals court ruling that
found Navegar liable for the deaths of eight people killed by
Gian Luigi Ferri in a San Francisco shooting in 1993. The Brady
Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence filed the suit.
NAACP President Kweisi Mfume testified April 3 in U.S.
District Court for the Eastern District of New York in the suit
brought by his organization that the proliferation of handguns
kills thousands of blacks, particularly young people, and is
partly "the fault of the government for not enforcing
existing laws and the fault of the gun industry for not self
regulating the sale and distribution of handguns."
"Long before I got to the Association, I realized [the
proliferation of illegal handguns] was a problem," Mfume
said. He added that as a member of Congress and a Baltimore city
councilman, "I got tired of going to teen-age funerals and
consoling mothers whose children had been killed with a
handgun."
Representing the NAACP is General Counsel Dennis Hayes,
Deputy General Counsel Angela Ciccolo and attorney Elisa Barnes.
Joining the NAACP in the lawsuit is the Educational Fund to End
Handgun Violence, the Violence Policy Center and the Brady
Center, according to a statement.
The suit was filed March 24; U.S. District Judge Jack B.
Weinstein is presiding over the case.
GOA says there is more at risk than the financial solvency of
the gun industry. The group says the nation's security is being
put at risk.
In a statement, GOA said, "The National Shooting Sports
Foundation has documented the patriotic service that many of the
gun makers, who are named in the NAACP suit, have offered to our
country."
Included on that list are Colt, the only maker of the U.S.
military's M-16 series of rifles; Smith & Wesson, one of the
largest producers of firearms for the military and law
enforcement; Browning, credited with giving the U.S. and its
allies firearms superiority throughout the two world wars, as
well as the Korean War; Sturm, Ruger & Company, which
donated rifles to the New York City Police Department in the
days following Sept. 11, 2001, for the protection of the people
of the city; Glock, also a major supplier of firearms to law
enforcement and military personnel; and Sig Arms, which provides
the official sidearm for the U.S. Navy SEALS.
"The NAACP lawsuit is not only completely frivolous, it
could ultimately prove harmful to our country," Pratt said.
"Our military depends upon these gun makers, as do millions
of law-abiding Americans who use these quality firearms for
their own self-protection."
The Brady Campaign said earlier this week a Massachusetts
court cleared the way for a lawsuit brought by the family of a 
gun-violence victim to move forward to trial, denying motions to
dismiss the case. The suit alleges that gun maker Kahr Arms
acted negligently and created a public nuisance by operating its
manufacturing plant without security or inventory controls and
by failing to screen its employees for drug addiction or
criminal records, the Brady Campaign said in a statement.
Kahr is the maker of the
world-famous Thompson
"Tommy Gun" machine gun.
Related stories:
Jon
E. Dougherty is a staff reporter and columnist for
WorldNetDaily.
