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Groups Broaden Efforts to Regulate Guns as Consume
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Groups Broaden Efforts to Regulate Guns as Consumer Products
9/13/2002
Feature Story
by Dick Dahl
With the 107th Congress drawing to a close, activists are looking ahead to next year for a renewed effort to pass a bill that would subject the gun industry to the same health and safety regulations as almost every other industry.
The Firearms Safety and Consumer Protection Act (S. 330 and H.R. 671), authored by Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) and Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), would give the Department of Treasury the authority to regulate the design, manufacture, and distribution of guns. The Consumer Federation of America (CFA), a strong backer of the bills, has organized a coalition of more than 120 organizations to support passage and will resume the effort when the next Congress convenes in January, according to Susan Peschin, firearms project director at CFA.
Almost every other industry is regulated in the way in which they manufacture and distribute products, but the gun industry, incredibly, is not. When the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) was created by Congress in 1972 to protect the public from risks of injury from consumer products, guns were specifically exempted from CPSC jurisdiction. Not even the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) has such regulatory powers. ATF has jurisdiction over the commerce of guns--licensing of dealers, regulation of sales--but not manufacturing and distribution standards.
While passage of that legislation is a top priority of CFA and other consumer organizations, Peschin points out that there are other gun issues of interest to pro-consumer activists, such as the need to push for reauthorization of the 1994 assault-weapons ban, which sunsets in 2004.
In addition, some of the voluntary efforts by gun makers and pro-gun groups to make firearms safer need to be closely scrutinized, she said. One example of an industry effort that CFA and other groups have monitored--and criticized as inadequate--is Remington Arms' voluntary "safety modification program." Remington created that program as a response to reports that its Model 700 bolt-action rifle often fires when it's not supposed to. According to Peschin, Remington has been involved in at least 100 death and injury claims and thousands of malfunction complaints about the gun firing when the safety is released or if the rifle is merely jarred.
On Aug. 12, the North Carolina Consumers Council (NCCC) held a protest outside Remington's headquarters in Madison, NC, criticizing the company's "program" because it does not use the word "recall," doesn't adequately warn consumers of the guns' safety hazard, is good for only nine months, and charges the guns' owners $20 for what the Remington website calls "cleaning, inspection and removal of the bolt-lock, plus shipping and handling."
NCCC is one of 10 state consumer organizations that comprise a two-year-old CFA project to promote the regulation of guns as consumer products. The groups have embarked on a variety of projects to focus attention on the costs and risks of the unregulated gun industry.
On Aug. 30, for example, the Champaign County (Ill.) Health Care Consumers (CCHCC) held a press conference in Urbana, calling upon parents to keep guns out of their homes. The group released a report, "A Preventable Problem: Gun-Related Deaths Among Illinois Youth," which found that Illinois children are disproportionately affected by gun violence. Nearly 20 percent of Illinois gun deaths occur to someone 19 years old or younger, while the national average for that age group is 11.7 percent, the report stated.
"Taking guns out of the home is one of the things that people can do without legislation being passed," said Brooke Anderson, a CCHCC community organizer and author of the report, which was based on Centers for Disease Control data. She also said that gun deaths and injuries would be further reduced by legislation that would require such safety features as trigger locks.
Anderson said that in October, CCHCC will be joining forces with domestic-violence and women's groups to focus attention on guns and domestic violence. Gun sellers "have really been marketing guns to women. It's almost like they're exploiting a pseudo 'women's power' thing." She said a series of press conferences about the dangers of guns and domestic violence are planned.
In New York, by contrast, most of the efforts by the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) have been on developing support for the Kennedy-Torricelli bill. "Since New York has what are considered fairly stringent firearms laws, it makes sense for us to put our efforts there," said Russ Haven, legislative counsel for the Albany-based organization.
The Massachusetts Consumers Coalition (MCC), based in another state with relatively stringent gun laws, also has focused its attention on the national gun-industry regulation effort, according to Jeanne Foy, MCC's gun safety program director. Still, she said, when MCC heard that the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) was coming to Massachusetts to give away trigger locks outside several Wal-Marts this year, she and other people showed up to see how the give-away worked. While granting that the effort is a step in the right direction, Foy criticized it for failing to live up to its advance promise. Press releases about the tour touted a "mobile classroom," a "free firearms safety kit with gun lock," a "safety video," and a "display of safe storage equipment."
Foy said there was no mobile classroom, safety video, or displays of safe storage equipment. "There was a tarp anchored to a truck with a young guy handing out gun locks," she said. "The table had locks on it, NSSF brochures, pledges for children, and two laminated placards showing cable locks on various firearms."
CFA, meanwhile, has recently unveiled a new website, www.regulateguns.org, "to give activists, policy makers, and the press information and resources relative to the issue of regulating guns as consumer products," Peschin said. The site provides spot news, press releases, links, sample letters, etc., as well as various fact sheets. One, titled "10 Unbelievable but True Facts about Firearms' Deadly Exemption from Health and Safety Standards," lists some of the more striking realities about the unregulated gun industry:
Firearms cause more deaths each year than the 15,000 products regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission combined.
Fifty-caliber sniper rifles, powerful weapons that are capable of penetrating thick armor more than a mile away and bringing down aircraft, are easier to buy than handguns because no federal agency has the power to restrict the availability of weapons that pose threats to public safety.
Similarly, no federal agency can regulate excessive lead exposure at firing ranges, despite numerous studies since the 1970s that have identified these ranges as major sources of lead pollution.
In an op-ed article that appeared in the Aug. 26 Durham (N.C.) Herald-Sun, Peschin and NCCC President Brad Lamb wrote about the Remington "safety modification program," and pointed out that if the gun in question were a toy gun, the manufacturer would have no choice but to recall it--and foot the bill for doing it.
"What's the result of real health and safety regulations?" Peschin and Lamb asked rhetorically. "Since the Consumer Product Safety Commission was created in 1972, deaths from products under its jurisdiction have gone down by more than half. We can and must do the same for guns."
To find out more about the Regulate Guns Coalition, call Susan Peschin at: 202-387-6121 or visit their website at: www.regulateguns.org
http://www.jointogether.org/gv/news/features/reader/0,2061,554038,00.html
"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
Edited by - josey1 on 09/17/2002 05:48:14
9/13/2002
Feature Story
by Dick Dahl
With the 107th Congress drawing to a close, activists are looking ahead to next year for a renewed effort to pass a bill that would subject the gun industry to the same health and safety regulations as almost every other industry.
The Firearms Safety and Consumer Protection Act (S. 330 and H.R. 671), authored by Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) and Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), would give the Department of Treasury the authority to regulate the design, manufacture, and distribution of guns. The Consumer Federation of America (CFA), a strong backer of the bills, has organized a coalition of more than 120 organizations to support passage and will resume the effort when the next Congress convenes in January, according to Susan Peschin, firearms project director at CFA.
Almost every other industry is regulated in the way in which they manufacture and distribute products, but the gun industry, incredibly, is not. When the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) was created by Congress in 1972 to protect the public from risks of injury from consumer products, guns were specifically exempted from CPSC jurisdiction. Not even the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) has such regulatory powers. ATF has jurisdiction over the commerce of guns--licensing of dealers, regulation of sales--but not manufacturing and distribution standards.
While passage of that legislation is a top priority of CFA and other consumer organizations, Peschin points out that there are other gun issues of interest to pro-consumer activists, such as the need to push for reauthorization of the 1994 assault-weapons ban, which sunsets in 2004.
In addition, some of the voluntary efforts by gun makers and pro-gun groups to make firearms safer need to be closely scrutinized, she said. One example of an industry effort that CFA and other groups have monitored--and criticized as inadequate--is Remington Arms' voluntary "safety modification program." Remington created that program as a response to reports that its Model 700 bolt-action rifle often fires when it's not supposed to. According to Peschin, Remington has been involved in at least 100 death and injury claims and thousands of malfunction complaints about the gun firing when the safety is released or if the rifle is merely jarred.
On Aug. 12, the North Carolina Consumers Council (NCCC) held a protest outside Remington's headquarters in Madison, NC, criticizing the company's "program" because it does not use the word "recall," doesn't adequately warn consumers of the guns' safety hazard, is good for only nine months, and charges the guns' owners $20 for what the Remington website calls "cleaning, inspection and removal of the bolt-lock, plus shipping and handling."
NCCC is one of 10 state consumer organizations that comprise a two-year-old CFA project to promote the regulation of guns as consumer products. The groups have embarked on a variety of projects to focus attention on the costs and risks of the unregulated gun industry.
On Aug. 30, for example, the Champaign County (Ill.) Health Care Consumers (CCHCC) held a press conference in Urbana, calling upon parents to keep guns out of their homes. The group released a report, "A Preventable Problem: Gun-Related Deaths Among Illinois Youth," which found that Illinois children are disproportionately affected by gun violence. Nearly 20 percent of Illinois gun deaths occur to someone 19 years old or younger, while the national average for that age group is 11.7 percent, the report stated.
"Taking guns out of the home is one of the things that people can do without legislation being passed," said Brooke Anderson, a CCHCC community organizer and author of the report, which was based on Centers for Disease Control data. She also said that gun deaths and injuries would be further reduced by legislation that would require such safety features as trigger locks.
Anderson said that in October, CCHCC will be joining forces with domestic-violence and women's groups to focus attention on guns and domestic violence. Gun sellers "have really been marketing guns to women. It's almost like they're exploiting a pseudo 'women's power' thing." She said a series of press conferences about the dangers of guns and domestic violence are planned.
In New York, by contrast, most of the efforts by the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) have been on developing support for the Kennedy-Torricelli bill. "Since New York has what are considered fairly stringent firearms laws, it makes sense for us to put our efforts there," said Russ Haven, legislative counsel for the Albany-based organization.
The Massachusetts Consumers Coalition (MCC), based in another state with relatively stringent gun laws, also has focused its attention on the national gun-industry regulation effort, according to Jeanne Foy, MCC's gun safety program director. Still, she said, when MCC heard that the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) was coming to Massachusetts to give away trigger locks outside several Wal-Marts this year, she and other people showed up to see how the give-away worked. While granting that the effort is a step in the right direction, Foy criticized it for failing to live up to its advance promise. Press releases about the tour touted a "mobile classroom," a "free firearms safety kit with gun lock," a "safety video," and a "display of safe storage equipment."
Foy said there was no mobile classroom, safety video, or displays of safe storage equipment. "There was a tarp anchored to a truck with a young guy handing out gun locks," she said. "The table had locks on it, NSSF brochures, pledges for children, and two laminated placards showing cable locks on various firearms."
CFA, meanwhile, has recently unveiled a new website, www.regulateguns.org, "to give activists, policy makers, and the press information and resources relative to the issue of regulating guns as consumer products," Peschin said. The site provides spot news, press releases, links, sample letters, etc., as well as various fact sheets. One, titled "10 Unbelievable but True Facts about Firearms' Deadly Exemption from Health and Safety Standards," lists some of the more striking realities about the unregulated gun industry:
Firearms cause more deaths each year than the 15,000 products regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission combined.
Fifty-caliber sniper rifles, powerful weapons that are capable of penetrating thick armor more than a mile away and bringing down aircraft, are easier to buy than handguns because no federal agency has the power to restrict the availability of weapons that pose threats to public safety.
Similarly, no federal agency can regulate excessive lead exposure at firing ranges, despite numerous studies since the 1970s that have identified these ranges as major sources of lead pollution.
In an op-ed article that appeared in the Aug. 26 Durham (N.C.) Herald-Sun, Peschin and NCCC President Brad Lamb wrote about the Remington "safety modification program," and pointed out that if the gun in question were a toy gun, the manufacturer would have no choice but to recall it--and foot the bill for doing it.
"What's the result of real health and safety regulations?" Peschin and Lamb asked rhetorically. "Since the Consumer Product Safety Commission was created in 1972, deaths from products under its jurisdiction have gone down by more than half. We can and must do the same for guns."
To find out more about the Regulate Guns Coalition, call Susan Peschin at: 202-387-6121 or visit their website at: www.regulateguns.org
http://www.jointogether.org/gv/news/features/reader/0,2061,554038,00.html
"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
Edited by - josey1 on 09/17/2002 05:48:14
Comments
9/16/2002
Action Alert
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
united with the Million Mom March
1225 Eye Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 898-0792
www.bradycampaign.org
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is working hard to get the word out to their membership in support of its top priority, H.R. 2037/S. 2268: legislation that would stop gun violence victims from seeking justice in our nation's courts. The bill immunizes gun makers, gun sellers, and gun trade associations from liability under most negligence and other common law principles.
In its most recent alert, the NRA claims that the House version of this legislation, H.R. 2037, will soon be marked up in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In that same alert, the NRA also claims that it has now signed up 42 cosponsors for the Senate version, S. 2268.
We cannot let the NRA win this battle!
It won't be easy to defeat this legislation in the Committee. That's why we need every one of you to call or write your Representative and Senator to let them know how strongly we oppose this outrageous attack on the legal rights of gun violence victims!
Please go to our web site to find out more about this disasterous piece of legislation. You can also use this link to send a letter to your Representative in opposition to H.R. 2037, and to your Senators in opposition to S. 2268: www.bradycampaign.org/legislation/federal/hr2037.asp
You can also make calls to your Representative and Senators through the U.S. Capitol Switchboard, for Representatives please call 202-225-3121 and for Senators please call 202- 224-3121.
Please call or write today, and pass this message along to your friends, family and colleagues so that they too can take a stand against the NRA!
http://www.jointogether.org/gv/news/alerts/reader/0,2061,554049,00.html
"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
This is a letter from Lawrence G. Keane, General Counsel for the "Sporting Arms & Ammunition Manufacturers Institute" advising California Gov. Davis not to open gun manufacturers to frivolous anti-gun lawsuits.
"The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute, Inc. ("SAAMI")1 urges you to veto AB 496 because the repeal of Civil Code ?1714.4 will result in firearm manufacturers being held to a higher standard under the law than any other manufacturer of legal, non-defective products." ...
http://www.nssf.org/PDF/091302VetoAB496.pdf
"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