Chicago Lawsuit Against Gun Makers Misfires

NewsMax.com
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2000

A judge has thrown out Chicago Mayor Richard Daley?s lawsuit against gun
manufacturers charging them with flooding the city with handguns.

Judge Stephen Schiller of Cook County Circuit Court told the city that stopping
illegal gun sales should be the responsibility of the police and the criminal
courts. He said the city had failed to show that the gun manufacturers,
distributors and dealers had knowingly drenched the city with illegal handguns.

The judge ruled that Chicago has put too much stress on statistical data
governing the sales of guns later used in crimes. He suggested that police and
prosecutors could more aggressively pursue the problem of weapons sold in
suburban gun shops, where law enforcement has been successful.

According to Reuters news agency, “in four recent cases brought against
suburban gun shop owners by the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of
Illinois, two were acquitted, one was found guilty, and one pleaded guilty. They
were charged with making illegal sales to ‘straw’ purchasers who clearly were
reselling the weapons.”

A shocked Daley promised to pursue the case.

“We will appeal the ruling, of course. We will continue this fight because it’s the
right thing to do, because the majority of the public is on our side, and because
it will save lives,” the Chicago Democrat said.

But the record shows that such lawsuits, obviously aimed at bankrupting the
gun industry, are anything but certain winners. Out of 30 lawsuits filed by U.S.
cities against the manufacturers, four have already been thrown out, and only
five have survived initial challenges. Moreover, at least eight states have
passed laws forbidding municipalities to sue gun makers.

The Chicago lawsuit filed in 1998 was the second such case filed by a U.S.
city. New Orleans was the first to file suit against the gun industry. None of the
cases have come to trial.

Chicago sought $433 million in damages to offset expenses run up by police,
medical units and other agencies.

Daley promised he would pursue the gun industry in the courts and push for
“commonsense” gun laws. He said he failed to understand why the gun industry
should not get the same legal treatment meted out to cigarette makers and tire
makers.