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Gun control advocates object as Ehrlich backs bill
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Gun control advocates object as Ehrlich backs bill on lawsuits
Candidate says measure would help clear courts
By Sarah Koenig
Sun Staff
Originally published September 26, 2002
Gun control advocates criticized Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. anew yesterday for his support of a bill that would give sweeping legal immunity to the gun industry.
The bill, backed by the National Rifle Association, would bar certain kinds of lawsuits against gun dealers, manufacturers and trade associations. Ehrlich, a Republican running for governor, voted in favor of the measure yesterday as it passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The bill would not affect lawsuits claiming breach of contract or negligence on the part of the gun industry. But it would prohibit the kinds of lawsuits that have been filed by two dozen cities and counties across the country. Those cases are based on two arguments: that the gun industry has established a distribution system that funnels guns easily into the criminal market, and that gun manufacturers refuse to install safety devices that would prevent unauthorized users from pulling the trigger.
Ehrlich said he supported the bill because it would prevent nonsense lawsuits from clogging courts. "This says you're not going to be subject to being sued if your product's misused," he said.
Ehrlich added that the kinds of claims the bill addresses have all failed in court anyway.
But Dennis Henigan, legal director of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said the lawsuits in question are far from frivolous. Of the 24 that have been filed, seven have been dismissed and the rest are active, he said.
"This bill is being pushed by the gun lobby not because these lawsuits are failing. It's because they're succeeding," he said.
This month, Ehrlich became the subject of intense criticism from state and national gun control groups after he told reporters he would revisit a couple of the state's gun laws.
Anti-gun groups are backing the candidacy of Ehrlich's Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.
Copyright c 2002, The Baltimore Sun
http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-md.guns26sep26,0,4728880.story?coll=bal-local-headlines
Edited by - josey1 on 09/28/2002 05:51:24
Candidate says measure would help clear courts
By Sarah Koenig
Sun Staff
Originally published September 26, 2002
Gun control advocates criticized Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. anew yesterday for his support of a bill that would give sweeping legal immunity to the gun industry.
The bill, backed by the National Rifle Association, would bar certain kinds of lawsuits against gun dealers, manufacturers and trade associations. Ehrlich, a Republican running for governor, voted in favor of the measure yesterday as it passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The bill would not affect lawsuits claiming breach of contract or negligence on the part of the gun industry. But it would prohibit the kinds of lawsuits that have been filed by two dozen cities and counties across the country. Those cases are based on two arguments: that the gun industry has established a distribution system that funnels guns easily into the criminal market, and that gun manufacturers refuse to install safety devices that would prevent unauthorized users from pulling the trigger.
Ehrlich said he supported the bill because it would prevent nonsense lawsuits from clogging courts. "This says you're not going to be subject to being sued if your product's misused," he said.
Ehrlich added that the kinds of claims the bill addresses have all failed in court anyway.
But Dennis Henigan, legal director of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said the lawsuits in question are far from frivolous. Of the 24 that have been filed, seven have been dismissed and the rest are active, he said.
"This bill is being pushed by the gun lobby not because these lawsuits are failing. It's because they're succeeding," he said.
This month, Ehrlich became the subject of intense criticism from state and national gun control groups after he told reporters he would revisit a couple of the state's gun laws.
Anti-gun groups are backing the candidacy of Ehrlich's Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.
Copyright c 2002, The Baltimore Sun
http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-md.guns26sep26,0,4728880.story?coll=bal-local-headlines
Edited by - josey1 on 09/28/2002 05:51:24
Comments
The idea of suing gun manufacturers for the criminal misuse of their lawfully manufactured products by third parties over whom they have no control is an obviously ridiculous misapplication of the law. But the fact that a potential future governor of Maryland agrees with that assessment is remarkable indeed. Republican gubernatorial candidate Robert L. Ehrlich this week made clear his support of sensible laws that target those who actually commit crimes - not third parties who have done nothing wrong.
Mr. Ehrlich voted in favor of H.R. 2037, which, among other things, would limit the vulnerability of firearms manufacturers to civil lawsuits. Since the 1990s, attempts have been made to bankrupt firearms manufacturers by holding them financially responsible for loss of life, injuries and other damages caused by criminals who use firearms that happen to have a brand name.
Thus, a Smith and Wesson revolver purchased legally but used at some later point to further a criminal act becomes the responsibility of Smith and Wesson. This is like holding General Motors responsible for the person who drives his Corvette sports car at 140 mph. Both the car and the gun have the potential to be misused. But neither are inherently dangerous - and any unlawful use to which they are put by their owners is certainly something neither the automaker nor the gun manufacturer can control. To suggest otherwise is a distortion of cause and effect, which would open the door to potentially limitless lawsuits affecting just about any consumer good one could think of.
Mr. Ehrlich's support of H.R. 2037 - which sailed through a House Energy and Commerce Committee vote by a 30-16 margin - is a reflection of common sense and basic equity. Of course, Maryland's Democratic establishment and gun-control advocates do not see it that way, and immediately denounced Mr. Ehrlich for being a conservative (ouch!) and for backing the "gun industry protection act of 2002."
This is simply nonsense. Judging from Kathleen Townsend's precipitous political decline in recent months, a growing number of Marylanders are starting to see such demagoguery for what it is.
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20020927-746135.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878