Gun control forces say suits to go on

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Gun control forces say suits to go onBy David Abel, Globe Staff, 3/29/2002roponents of gun control predicted yesterday that Boston's decision to drop its three-year-old lawsuit against dozens of gun manufacturers is not likely to end the efforts of 33 other cities around the country that are suing the gun industry. Evidence of the will to fight handguns, they said, was the decision yesterday by Jersey City to become the latest municipality to sue gun manufacturers.''Boston's decision was unique to Boston,'' said Dennis Henigan, director of the Legal Action Project for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence in Washington, who advised the city in its case against 31 gun manufacturers. ''I don't see any impact at all for other cities. They are aggressively pursuing their suits and will pick up where Boston left off.''On Wednesday, after obtaining thousands of documents from the gun industry, deposing dozens of executives, and spending $250,000, Boston officials dropped their suit against the gun makers, deciding that the legal battle was too expensive at a time of tight budgets. Legal costs had reached about $30,000 a month. Like other cities, Boston contended in its suit that firearms makers ignored evidence that gun shops illegally sold to people with criminal records. The city also argued that manufacturers produced unsafe weapons, failed to tell consumers about the risks of gun use, and, among other things, illegally marketed guns to minors.To recoup costs to the police and fire departments, emergency services, schools, and hospitals, the city suit sought $100 million from the manufacturers.The decision was another legal setback for gun-control advocates. Nine similar municipal cases around the country have been dismissed by judges. And lawyers for the gun industry said yesterday that Boston can serve as a lesson to other cities.''We certainly hope that other cities who have sued the industry will understand, as Boston does, that the best way of achieving the shared goal of reducing criminal misuse and accidents is through voluntary mutual cooperation and communication - rather than expensive, time-consuming litigation,'' said Lawrence Keane, vice president and general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a defendant in the Boston case.Gun-control advocates say the other suits are moving ahead. While Boston's case was closest to trial, they said that lawsuits in California also have amassed thousands of documents from gun makers, and that those cases should proceed to trial within a year. Gun-control advocates expect other cities to file new lawsuits, like Jersey City. Still, given the gun indutry's money, some worry that Boston's decision represents the Achilles' heel of the anti-gun lawsuits. ''The bottom line is that when you take on an industry, it costs money,'' said Joshua Horwitz, executive director of the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence. ''But to get so close to trial and then back out really seems like a waste of resources.'' City officials said that at the time the decision to end the lawsuit was made, it appeared as though the judge would reject the novel legal theories underpinning the case - making the suit both expensive and risky. In addition, city officials decided they could not use homicide case files in court. The files would be used to link specific gun companies to specific crimes, an important pillar of their argument. But Boston police rejected the idea, leaving their case without key evidence.The effect of Boston's decision, said John Rosenthal, director of the Newton-based Stop Handgun Violence Inc., ''will be a shakeout of lawyers.'' http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/088/nation/Gun_control_forces_say_suits_to_go_on+.shtml