Landmark gun lawsuit may be undermined by congressional action

The NAACP brought an unprecedented civil suit against the gun industry July 12, 1999, accusing 85 gun manufacturers and distributors of insufficiently regulating the sale and distribution of handguns. Almost four years later, litigants in NAACP et al v. American Arms, Inc. et al finally faced off March 31 at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

NAACP General Counsel Dennis Hayes, along with Deputy General Counsel Angela Ciccolo and attorney Elisa Barnes, argued the organization's case. The Educational Fund to End Handgun Violence, the Violence Policy Center and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence joined the NAACP in the suit.

"Unlike other lawsuits, ours does not seek monetary gains. We are asking for injunctive relief, asking the gun industry to change its way of doing business," says Ciccolo.

As the case opened, Barnes argued that the industry's marketing strategies contributed to the proliferation of illegal weapons. "The manufacturers and distributors have engaged in sales practices that they know send guns into the hands of criminals," she said.

The industry argued that people, not guns, are responsible for homicides. Gun Owners of America, a 300,000-strong advocacy group based in Springfield, Va., said the NAACP's lawsuit could bankrupt gun makers and negatively affect the nation's military.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, firearms killed 28,663 people in the United States in 2000, down slightly from 30,625 in 1998 and 28,874 in 1999. In 2000, those 19 and younger accounted for 10.6 percent of all gun deaths.

The NAACP contends that these deaths are caused, in part, by the gun industry's failure to monitor its sales of handguns - a failure that has had a disproportionate impact on Black communities. Though African Americans make up only 13 percent of the population, they are the victims of 50 percent of gun homicides and commit 54.6 percent of gun homicides. Barnes also noted that according to statistics from 1990 to 1998, a Black teen is 16 times more likely to die from a gunshot wound than a White teen.

The case is being heard by judge Jack B. Weinstein, who opted to impanel a special federal advisory jury. A gun trade show association alleged that Weinstein was biased in favor of the NAACP and launched an attack on him, issuing a news release describing the judge as a "well-known liberal activist judge."

NAACP President and CEO Kweisi Mfume stressed the increasing role of handguns in the high number of gun incidents when he testified April 3. "Long before I got to the association, I realized [the proliferation of illegal handguns] was a problem," Mfume said. He said that as a member of Congress and a Baltimore City Councilman, "I got tired of going to teenage funerals and consoling mothers whose children had been killed with a handgun."

Robert A. Ricker, former assistant general counsel for the National Rifle Association and former executive director of the American Shooting Sports Council, testified on behalf of the NAACP. Ricker said the gun industry has long known its practices aid criminal access to guns - yet has done nothing about it. According to a declaration he filed this year on behalf of 12 jurisdictions in California that have also sued the gun industry, "many manufacturers and distributors consistently refuse to address the problem of the 'felons among us.' They instead hide behind the fiction that as long as a retail dealer has a valid federal firearms license to sell guns, no attention to the dealer's business practices is required by its suppliers."

On April 9 dealers got more than a federal license when the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1036, a bill giving gun manufacturers and gun dealers immunity from present and past lawsuits. The Senate is considering its own version of the measure (S. 659), and President Bush has indicated he will sign the bill.

"It is distressing and disturbing that after three years there is the introduction and fast tracking of this legislation which essentially makes null and void what we are trying to do," Mfume said after testifying at the NAACP's lawsuit.

In May, the advisory jury decided not to hold the gun manufacturers liable. A final ruling is expected from Judge Weinstein.

Copyright Crisis Publishing Company, Incorporated May/Jun 2003
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