Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Supreme Court turns down gun lawsuit appeals

The AP reports that yesterday, the Supreme Court denied cert (refused to hear appeals) in City of New York v. Beretta and Lawson v. Beretta:
The Supreme Court has turned away pleas by New York City and gun violence victims to hold the firearms industry responsible for selling guns that could end up in illegal markets.

The justices' decision Monday ends lawsuits first filed in 2000. Federal appeals courts in New York and Washington threw out the complaints after Congress passed a law in 2005 giving the gun industry broad immunity against such lawsuits.

Article here. Suing gun manufacturers for the damage caused by criminals who misuse guns is a favored tactic of the anti-gunners, particularly when they can use taxpayer funds (in this case those of New York City taxpayers) to foot the legal bill. The 2005 federal law limiting such suits was intended to put the kibosh on such frivolous lawsuits. We don't allow lawsuits against car manufacturers for the damage caused by drunk drivers (assuming the car was not defective), and the same common sense rule should apply for guns and gun manufacturers.

No comments: