Judge Dismisses Chicago Suit Against Gun Industry CHICAGO (Reuters) - A judge on Friday dismissed Chicago's lawsuit against the gun industry, ruling the city failed to show that gun manufacturers, distributors and dealers knowingly flood the city with handguns. Judge Stephen Schiller of Cook County Circuit Court suggested that illegal gun sales would be more effectively pursued by the police and in the criminal courts. ``We will appeal the ruling, of course,'' Chicago Mayor Richard Daley said. ``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.'' Chicago's was the fourth of roughly 30 such lawsuits brought by U.S. cities to be dismissed, while five others have passed this initial hurdle, a city attorney said. It was inevitable that the suit would be considered at the appellate level, she added. The 1998 suit blamed gun manufacturers, distributors and dealers that ring the city for endangering the health and welfare of residents in Chicago, which has strict gun laws. The suit demanded $433 million in damages to recoup the costs of urban gun violence, including expenses by police, medical units and other municipal agencies. Schiller said the city relied too much on statistical data governing the sales of guns later used in crimes and suggested that police and prosecutors could more aggressively pursue the problem of weapons sold in suburban gun shops. 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. Earlier this year, Schiller tossed out the ``negligent entrustment'' element of the Chicago suit, which charged the industry with putting guns into the hands of buyers they knew or should have known would misuse them. In support of the action, Chicago undercover police had videotaped gun sales in which officers posed as gang members or made clear they would resell the guns. Chicago's strict gun control law passed nearly two decades ago allows for handgun ownership only if the weapon's registration predated the law. Chicago was the second U.S. city after New Orleans to file suit against the gun industry. None of the cases has yet come to trial. At least eight states have passed laws barring such municipal lawsuits against the industry. Daley said he would pursue the gun industry in the courts and lobby for common-sense gun laws. He said he could not understand why the gun industry did not merit the same legal scrutiny as the cigarette makers and tire makers. He complained that the city can take away the license of a manicurist operating illegally, but not that of a gun dealer. Holding aloft a confiscated assault rifle, Daley railed against what he said were a small group of gun dealers, distributors and manufacturers he said were behind the vast majority of illegally obtained guns used in Chicago crimes. ``What are these guns sold for? These guns are sold to kill people -- drug dealers and gang-bangers,'' Daley said. The application of product law to the gun industry has been growing, though the success rate has been low. A Brooklyn, New York, jury held handgun makers legally responsible for a 1995 attack on a teenager and ordered three manufacturers to pay more than $500,000. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has also sued the gun industry in federal court. -- But the majority of the public is not on Mayor Daley's side, poll after poll shows at least 70% of people oppose the suits, and I cannot see how a lawsuit can save a person's life in and of itself, especially when it is daft. I remember when Clinton was campaigning, I think it was 1992, so he went to Chicago and went on about how wonderful an assault weapon ban would be because of all the gun crime in Chicago. The Chief of Police said yes it would be wonderful, because since the handgun ban in 1982 the number of legally owned handguns had declined from 750,000 to 300,000. And armed crime was at a much higher level than in 1982! Steve. Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
