-Caveat Lector- Sunday July 11 7:01 PM ET NAACP To Sue Gun Industry AP Photo By PAUL SHEPARD Associated Press Writer NEW YORK (AP) - The NAACP will sue handgun manufacturers, distributors and importers, hoping that new restrictions in the ways firearms are marketed and sold will help keep guns from criminals, sources said Sunday. Sources within the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People told The Associated Press that a formal announcement of the suit will come Monday from NAACP President Kweisi Mfume at the group's 90th annual convention. The move would put the nation's largest civil rights group in league with cities like New Orleans, Chicago, Cleveland and Boston which have sued the firearms industry in hopes of curbing street and school yard violence. Mfume declined to comment on the planned lawsuit, first reported in Time magazine this week. Sources at the convention said no monetary damages will be sought. The lawsuit will instead seek court orders that will force gun makers to better monitor where guns are distributed and to limit multiple purchases by individuals. In February at a meeting in Washington, Mfume said the NAACP was considering such a suit. ``We represent a significant constituency that is disproportionately affected by gun violence,'' Mfume said then. ``The time has come for us to look at the proliferation of handguns.'' Earlier this year, a federal jury in New York returned a $4 million verdict based upon a new strategy by plaintiffs - that the industry's negligence in marketing and distribution allowed weapons to flow illegally to states with strict anti-gun laws. The NAACP's intention to sue reflects a widespread frustration among policy makers with gun proliferation and lethal shooting attacks in schoolyards, most recently in Littleton, Colo., and Conyers Ga. During the recent U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in New Orleans, a bipartisan group called on House leaders to enact a strict gun safety bill. More than 100 mayors signed a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., asking that Congress raise the minimum age for gun purchases and require background checks for all gun buyers. Supporters of the suits said recent government studies show that greater oversight by the gun industry could help keep firearms out of criminal hands. A recent Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms study reported that 51 percent of the guns used in crimes by people aged 18 to 24 were purchased illegally over the last three years from licensed dealers by people acting as intermediaries for the real owners. Pro-gun groups have fired back by lobbying state legislatures to pass laws prohibiting such suits. Meanwhile in an address Sunday evening to NAACP delegates, National Board Chairman Julian Bond outlined a campaign to combat racism, save affirmative action, register voters and work against police brutality. Bond, in a text of his remarks, said that while the black poverty rate is at an all-time high, more blacks are in college than ever and that black employment and home ownership are increasing, not all is right in black America. Black families still have less than 10 percent the net wealth of white families and black median income is 40 percent less than white income. That gap hasn't narrowed in the last 25 years, Bond said. ``Our world is so much better than was true when the century began, but it is still a world apart from the world in which white America lives,'' Bond said. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/ap/ap_us/story.html?s=v/ap/19990711/us/ naacp_guns_1.html Bard Visit me at: The Center for Exposing Corruption in the Federal Government http://www.xld.com/public/center/center.htm Federal Government defined: ....a benefit/subsidy protection racket! DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
