From Their Cold Dead Hands

Yet another piece of not-so-progressive legislation has been proposed by the current administration. This beauty gives unprecendented immunity to U.S. gun manufacturers and dealers:

The Senate voted 66 to 32 to take up the gun measure, which would shield firearms manufacturers from lawsuits as long as they did not make or sell defective products..."Senator Frist is hellbent on helping the gun industry," the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, told reporters, adding, "This is his summer gift to a special interest group."...The bill would spare gun makers from lawsuits, filed by states and municipalities, that seek to hold them responsible for crimes committed with their products - NY Times

The White House issued a policy memo today stating that:

(Bill) S.397 would help curb frivolous litigation against a lawful American Industry... the bill would also safeguard our national security by preventing frivolous lawsuits against an industry that plays an important role in fulfilling our military's procurement needs.

According to some anti-gun violence groups the memo's ridiculously poor choice of language has singlehandedly deemed the following lawsuits as "frivolous":

-- Last year, the families of D.C. area sniper victims won a settlement of over $2 million from the Washington State gun dealer who could not account for the "missing" assault rifle used by the snipers and who "lost" over 200 other guns.

-- The family of Massachusetts slaying victim Danny Guzman, an innocent bystander shot on Christmas Eve 1999, is pursuing justice against a Massachusetts gun manufacturer that not only negligently hired criminals to work in its plant, but had such irresponsible security practices that it allowed them to walk out of the plant with guns that carried no serial numbers, one of which was used to shoot Guzman.

Michael D. Barnes, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence had this to say:

"These innocent Americans were victimized by reckless gun sellers who thought they would never be held accountable for putting guns into dangerous hands. The issue posed by this legislation is simple: Are President Bush and Congress on the side of these victims asserting their fundamental legal rights as Americans, or are they on the side of irresponsible gun merchants who care nothing about the fatal consequences of their conduct?"

It is interesting to note that 'criticial' Defense Department legistlation was shoved aside by the Republican Leadership (read: Bill Frist)to make room for the NRA drafted bill.