Willbrink
Thu, Oct-20-05, 17:50
Congress OKs Gun Industry Lawsuit Shield
By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Congress gave the gun lobby its top legislative
priority Thursday, passing a bill protecting the firearms
industry from massive crime-victim lawsuits. President Bush
said he will sign it.
"Our laws should punish criminals who use guns to commit
crimes, not law-abiding manufacturers of lawful products,"
Bush said in a statement.
The House voted 283-144 to send the bill to the president
after supporters, led by the National Rifle Association,
proclaimed it vital to protect the industry from being
bankrupted by huge jury awards. Opponents, waging a tough
battle against growing public support for the legislation,
called it proof of the gun lobby's power over the
Republican-controlled Congress.
"This legislation will make the unregulated gun industry the
most pampered industry in America," said Kristen Rand,
director of the Violence Policy Center.
Under the measure, a half-dozen pending lawsuits by local
governments against the industry would be dismissed.
Anti-gun groups say some lawsuits filed by individuals could
be thrown out, too.
The Senate passed the bill in July.
The bill's passage was the NRA's top legislative priority and
would give Bush and his Republican allies on Capitol Hill a
rare victory at a time when some top GOP leaders are under
indictment or investigation.
"Lawsuits seeking to hold the firearms industry responsible
for the criminal and unlawful use of its products are brazen
attempts to accomplish through litigation what has not been
achieved by legislation and the democratic process," House
Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., told
his colleagues.
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, did not vote.
He is in Texas in connection with his indictment in an alleged
scheme to violate state election law.
Propelled by GOP election gains and the incidents of
lawlessness associated with the passing of Hurricane Katrina,
support for the bill has grown since a similar measure passed
the House last year and was killed in the Senate.
Horrific images of people without the protection of public
safety in New Orleans made a particular impression on viewers
who had never before felt unsafe, according to the gun lobby.
"Americans saw a complete collapse of the government's ability
to protect them," said Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive
vice president.
"That burnt in, those pictures of people standing there
defending their lives and defending their property and
their family," he added, "where the one source of comfort
was a firearm."
With support from four new Republicans this session of
Congress, the bill passed the Senate for the first time in
July. House passage never was in doubt because it had 257
co-sponsors, far more than the 218 needed to pass.
The bill's authors say it still would allow civil suits
against individual parties who have been found guilty of
criminal wrongdoing by the courts.
Opponents say the strength of the bill's support is testament
to the influence of the gun lobby. If the bill had been law
when the relatives of six victims of convicted Washington-area
snipers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo sued the gun
dealer from which they obtained their rifle, the dealer would
not have agreed to pay the families and victims $2.5 million.
"It is shameful that Republicans in Congress are pushing
legislation that guarantees their gun-dealing cronies receive
special treatment and are above the law," said Rep. Robert
Wexler (news, bio, voting record), D-Fla.
Bush has said he supports the bill, which would prohibit
lawsuits against the firearms industry for damages
resulting from the unlawful use of a firearm or ammunition.
Gun makers and dealers still would be subject to product
liability, negligence or breach of contract suits, the
bill's authors say.
Democrats and Republicans alike court the NRA at election
time, and the bill has garnered bipartisan support. But the
firearms industry still gave 88 percent of its campaign
contributions, or $1.2 million, to Republicans in the 2004
election cycle.
Gun control advocates, meanwhile, gave 98 percent of their
contributions, or $93,700, to Democrats that cycle, according
to the Center for Responsive Politics.
___
The bill is S. 397.
--
Will Brink @ http://www.brinkzone.com/
By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Congress gave the gun lobby its top legislative
priority Thursday, passing a bill protecting the firearms
industry from massive crime-victim lawsuits. President Bush
said he will sign it.
"Our laws should punish criminals who use guns to commit
crimes, not law-abiding manufacturers of lawful products,"
Bush said in a statement.
The House voted 283-144 to send the bill to the president
after supporters, led by the National Rifle Association,
proclaimed it vital to protect the industry from being
bankrupted by huge jury awards. Opponents, waging a tough
battle against growing public support for the legislation,
called it proof of the gun lobby's power over the
Republican-controlled Congress.
"This legislation will make the unregulated gun industry the
most pampered industry in America," said Kristen Rand,
director of the Violence Policy Center.
Under the measure, a half-dozen pending lawsuits by local
governments against the industry would be dismissed.
Anti-gun groups say some lawsuits filed by individuals could
be thrown out, too.
The Senate passed the bill in July.
The bill's passage was the NRA's top legislative priority and
would give Bush and his Republican allies on Capitol Hill a
rare victory at a time when some top GOP leaders are under
indictment or investigation.
"Lawsuits seeking to hold the firearms industry responsible
for the criminal and unlawful use of its products are brazen
attempts to accomplish through litigation what has not been
achieved by legislation and the democratic process," House
Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., told
his colleagues.
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, did not vote.
He is in Texas in connection with his indictment in an alleged
scheme to violate state election law.
Propelled by GOP election gains and the incidents of
lawlessness associated with the passing of Hurricane Katrina,
support for the bill has grown since a similar measure passed
the House last year and was killed in the Senate.
Horrific images of people without the protection of public
safety in New Orleans made a particular impression on viewers
who had never before felt unsafe, according to the gun lobby.
"Americans saw a complete collapse of the government's ability
to protect them," said Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive
vice president.
"That burnt in, those pictures of people standing there
defending their lives and defending their property and
their family," he added, "where the one source of comfort
was a firearm."
With support from four new Republicans this session of
Congress, the bill passed the Senate for the first time in
July. House passage never was in doubt because it had 257
co-sponsors, far more than the 218 needed to pass.
The bill's authors say it still would allow civil suits
against individual parties who have been found guilty of
criminal wrongdoing by the courts.
Opponents say the strength of the bill's support is testament
to the influence of the gun lobby. If the bill had been law
when the relatives of six victims of convicted Washington-area
snipers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo sued the gun
dealer from which they obtained their rifle, the dealer would
not have agreed to pay the families and victims $2.5 million.
"It is shameful that Republicans in Congress are pushing
legislation that guarantees their gun-dealing cronies receive
special treatment and are above the law," said Rep. Robert
Wexler (news, bio, voting record), D-Fla.
Bush has said he supports the bill, which would prohibit
lawsuits against the firearms industry for damages
resulting from the unlawful use of a firearm or ammunition.
Gun makers and dealers still would be subject to product
liability, negligence or breach of contract suits, the
bill's authors say.
Democrats and Republicans alike court the NRA at election
time, and the bill has garnered bipartisan support. But the
firearms industry still gave 88 percent of its campaign
contributions, or $1.2 million, to Republicans in the 2004
election cycle.
Gun control advocates, meanwhile, gave 98 percent of their
contributions, or $93,700, to Democrats that cycle, according
to the Center for Responsive Politics.
___
The bill is S. 397.
--
Will Brink @ http://www.brinkzone.com/