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Family to File Lawsuit Against Kahr Arms
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Family to File Lawsuit Against Gun Manufacturer Kahr Arms
in the Shooting Death of Danny Guzman
To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor
Contact: Nancy Hwa of the Brady Center, 202-289-7319
or Hector Pineiro, 508-770-0600
News Advisory:
-- Family to File Lawsuit Against Gun Manufacturer Kahr Arms
in the Shooting Death of Danny Guzman
-- Company is a Business Subsidiary of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's
Unification Church
Worcester attorney Hector Pineiro, the family of Danny Guzman,
and local activists will be holding a press conference on Thursday,
Aug. 15 at 11 a.m. to announce the filing of a lawsuit against
local gun manufacturer Kahr Arms in the 1999 shooting death of
Danny. The press conference will be held on the steps of the
Worcester Superior Courthouse on Main Street in Worcester, MA. The
Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence is serving as co-counsel in
this case.
On Dec. 24, 1999, Danny Guzman was shot to death in front of a
Worcester nightclub with a 9 mm Kahr pistol. Later investigation
revealed that the gun was one of several stolen from Kahr Arms by
Kahr employees with criminal records. The case has exposed the
lack of security, record keeping, and other reasonable safeguards
at Kahr Arms. Also named in the suit is Kahr Arms' parent company,
One Up Enterprises, a holding company for the Reverend Sun Myung
Moon's Unification Church.
WHAT:
Press conference to announce the filing of a lawsuit against gun
manufacturer Kahr Arms and parent companies, on behalf of the
family of Danny Guzman
WHO:
-- Hector Pineiro, attorney for the plaintiffs
-- Rosa Nicacio, Danny Guzman's cousin, and other members of his
family
-- William T. Breault, chairman of the Main South Alliance for
Public Safety
WHERE:
Front steps of Worcester Superior Court
2 Main Street
Worcester, Mass.
WHEN:
Thursday, Aug. 15, 11 a.m.
http://www.usnewswire.com
-0-
/U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/
08/13 16:17
Copyright 2002, U.S. Newswire
"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
in the Shooting Death of Danny Guzman
To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor
Contact: Nancy Hwa of the Brady Center, 202-289-7319
or Hector Pineiro, 508-770-0600
News Advisory:
-- Family to File Lawsuit Against Gun Manufacturer Kahr Arms
in the Shooting Death of Danny Guzman
-- Company is a Business Subsidiary of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's
Unification Church
Worcester attorney Hector Pineiro, the family of Danny Guzman,
and local activists will be holding a press conference on Thursday,
Aug. 15 at 11 a.m. to announce the filing of a lawsuit against
local gun manufacturer Kahr Arms in the 1999 shooting death of
Danny. The press conference will be held on the steps of the
Worcester Superior Courthouse on Main Street in Worcester, MA. The
Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence is serving as co-counsel in
this case.
On Dec. 24, 1999, Danny Guzman was shot to death in front of a
Worcester nightclub with a 9 mm Kahr pistol. Later investigation
revealed that the gun was one of several stolen from Kahr Arms by
Kahr employees with criminal records. The case has exposed the
lack of security, record keeping, and other reasonable safeguards
at Kahr Arms. Also named in the suit is Kahr Arms' parent company,
One Up Enterprises, a holding company for the Reverend Sun Myung
Moon's Unification Church.
WHAT:
Press conference to announce the filing of a lawsuit against gun
manufacturer Kahr Arms and parent companies, on behalf of the
family of Danny Guzman
WHO:
-- Hector Pineiro, attorney for the plaintiffs
-- Rosa Nicacio, Danny Guzman's cousin, and other members of his
family
-- William T. Breault, chairman of the Main South Alliance for
Public Safety
WHERE:
Front steps of Worcester Superior Court
2 Main Street
Worcester, Mass.
WHEN:
Thursday, Aug. 15, 11 a.m.
http://www.usnewswire.com
-0-
/U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/
08/13 16:17
Copyright 2002, U.S. Newswire
"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
Comments
BY RICK RUGGLES
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey wants the City Council to remove from its agenda a proposal that would define who can and who cannot obtain handgun permits.
Paul Landow, Fahey's chief of staff, said Wednesday that the proposed ordinance requires further study. As written, Landow said, the proposal would allow "people with a violent past" to acquire handgun permits.
Landow said Fahey had reviewed the current proposal and thought it was acceptable. But Fahey decided after further reflection, and conversations with City Prosecutor Marty Conboy, that there were holes in the plan, Landow said.
The council is expected to hold a public hearing Tuesday on the proposed ordinance. Under that schedule, the council could vote on the proposal Aug. 20.
The issue of who should be allowed handgun permits has frustrated city government since late winter. Police Chief Don Carey intended at that time to put into an ordinance the policy the Police Department was using.
That policy called for denial of handgun permits to prostitutes, repeat drunken drivers, those guilty of disorderly conduct, people convicted of destruction of property and others.
When the proposed ordinance was unveiled, a National Rifle Association lobbyist and some Omaha gun owners peppered the City Council with phone calls protesting the plan.
Carey withdrew that proposal. The latest plan, with minor exceptions, coincides with federal law.
That law denies permits to, among others, those charged with or convicted of felonies; drug users; the mentally ill; those who are the subjects of court orders for harassing and stalking; and those convicted of domestic-violence misdemeanors.
The NRA didn't oppose the proposal being considered by the council.
The organization's Dawson Hobbs said from Fairfax, Va., that he couldn't comment on a Fahey concept that he hasn't seen on paper. But he said Omaha should be careful about the limitations it places on handgun permits.
"A person's right to own a firearm shouldn't be subject to what one person who gets elected thinks is a good idea," Hobbs said. "Restricting somebody's right to own a firearm is very serious business."
Landow said he would talk to council members after they return this weekend from a trip. Half the council and the mayor traveled to Ireland for sister city events. So far, he said, he has spoken to only one councilman. He declined to name him.
A key problem, Landow said, is that the proposal would allow people convicted of misdemeanors involving assault, stalking and child abuse to obtain handgun permits. Some of those cases can involve violence, he said.
In the federal law, the clause referring to protective orders applies only to active court orders, not to those that have expired, Landow said.
Conboy agreed that there are problems with the proposal. Misdemeanor assaults can be severe enough to send people to the hospital, he said.
Under the federal law, the term domestic violence has been interpreted by courts to involve actual violence and not harassment or stalking, he said.
This is a good time to be certain that the local ordinance is as airtight as possible, Conboy said.
Karin Prest of the Omaha YWCA's Women Against Violence program said she had been contacted by Landow on the matter.
Prest said she has concerns about the proposal because domestic violence in Douglas County is generally classified a misdemeanor.
"A person can be pretty anti-social and still get a handgun if you follow the federal guidelines," she said. "I'm just for anything that will make our society less violent."
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=36&u_sid=469193
"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
By Henry Pierson Curtis | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted August 14, 2002
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A tiny Daytona Beach engineering firm won a big victory when a federal judge overturned a jury verdict in a lawsuit involving the making of so-called "smart guns." KinTech Manufacturing did nothing illegal or unethical, U.S. District Judge John Antoon II ruled when he threw out a $550,000 judgment.
The case involved claims of intellectual-property theft by "smart gun" inventor Kenneth Pugh. Pugh had worked with KinTech on a project for O.F. Mossberg & Sons, a firearms conglomerate. Pugh sued KinTech and Mossberg for damages, claiming they stole his trade secrets for making safer guns.
The judge ruled Aug. 5 that the jury in a five-day trial in May misunderstood critical points of law and testimony involving college-level science and technology. It is rare for a judge to throw out a jury verdict.
"Clearly, we're very pleased," said Orlando attorney Joseph Amos Jr.,who represented KinTech's owners and sole employees, Kevin and Elaine Kinion. "Their faith and confidence in the system has been restored."
Kevin Kinion said the jury verdict had seriously damaged his firm's reputation. He hoped the damage would be repaired by the judge's action.
"It was the type of thing where you wondered what trial the jury was sitting in. I don't know how in the world they came to the conclusion they did," he said Tuesday.
At stake were up to $2.8 billion in new gun sales as the firearms industry devises ways to reduce accidental shooting deaths and injuries through owner education and improved technology, according to market research.
Pugh's invention used a magnet system to keep anyone except an authorized user from shooting a specific firearm. Outfitted with a tiny magnetic switch in the handle, Pugh's gun would not fire unless the shooter wore an encoder ring.
Kevin Kinion helped design and build an improvement of Pugh's magnetic locking system for Mossberg. He worked with Pugh in Pugh's role as consultant and project manager.
Antoon's review of the evidence and trial testimony showed that Pugh had signed agreements that gave Mossberg, its affiliates and subcontractors, including KinTech, the right to use his invention. Pugh also failed to prove he held trade secrets and that he suffered damages, the judge ruled.
In overturning the jury, Antoon also ordered the inventor to pay KinTech's legal costs, which could exceed $100,000 for two years of litigation.
Pugh and his attorney, Charles M.R. Vethan, both of Houston, could not be reached.
Mossberg reached an undisclosed settlement with Pugh before the trial.
Henry Pierson Curtis can be reached at 407-420-5411 or hcurtis@orlandosentinel.com.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/volusia/orl-locsmartgun14081402aug14.story?coll=orl-news-headlines
"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
By Associated Press, 8/14/2002 10:46
PADUCAH, Ky. (AP) A federal appeals court upheld the dismissal of a $33 million lawsuit that blamed video game makers, a pornographic Web site and a movie studio for a deadly 1997 school shooting spree.
''We find that it is simply too far a leap from shooting characters on a video screen (an activity undertaken by millions) to shooting people in a classroom (an activity undertaken by a handful, at most),'' Judge Danny Boggs said in a ruling Tuesday by the three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.
The lawsuit claimed the entertainment companies exposed gunman Michael Carneal to violent and sexual images.
On Dec. 1, 1997, Carneal, then 14, walked into Heath High School near Paducah and opened fire, killing three students. He is serving a life sentence.
Michael Breen, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said they haven't decided whether to appeal.
Richard H.C. Clay, representing defendant Id Software, said: ''The First Amendment protects freedom of expression, and that is precisely what we have here.''
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/226/nation/Court_won_t_reinstate_lawsuit_:.shtml
"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
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Local News Health Education
Provided By: The Associated Press
Last Modified: 8/13/2002 9:02:49 AM
(Atlanta-AP) -- A north Georgia family faces criminal charges for allegedly running a firearms ring that sold more than 1,000 guns illegally.
Kenneth Christol, 55, had a table at Big D's Flea Market in Dalton where he sold guns. Police believe Christol bought the guns properly and then sold them for a profit without conducting background checks.
Mark Potter, a special agent for the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms office in Atlanta, said dozes of the guns Christol sold later turned up at crime scenes, including two police shootings. The indictments were announced Monday.
Christol's wife -- Colleen -- and son, Gregory -- were also indicted, accused of buying guns to be sold at the flea market. All three live in Rocky Face in Whitfield County.
Twenty-five-year-old Gregory Christol was a sheriff's deputy in Whitfield but resigned his job after indictment. The Christols were released on bonds of $25,000 each.
(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.asp?storyid=20305
"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
He was convicted on firearm charge
Franklin safety director resigns
The Franklin County director is credited with fostering a relationship between the county and fire and rescue volunteers.
By MIKE ALLEN
THE ROANOKE TIMES
It's been a rough year for Claude Webster.
In December, the Franklin County Public Safety Director was charged with brandishing his handgun at a Roanoke restaurant. In February, Webster was convicted of the charge and suspended without pay for a month.
Saturday afternoon, state police charged him with driving under the influence in Franklin County. And Monday, the deputy county administrator announced Webster had resigned, effective immediately, from the $45,000-a-year job he's held since 1993.
It was unclear exactly when or how Webster gave up the post. Assistant County Administrator Bonnie Johnson said she was notified of the resignation Monday morning. Webster could not be reached for comment.
"The county wishes Claude well and we're thankful for the many years of service," Johnson said.
Bennie Russell, the county's deputy director of public safety and fire marshal, will serve as interim public safety director while the county considers how to replace Webster.
About 3 p.m. Saturday, Webster lost control of his 1993 Corvette while rounding a curve on Grassy Hill Road in Franklin County and crashed into a barbed-wire fence. Webster was not injured, though there was damage to the car and fence, state police said.
Trooper D.H. Cepelnik administered field sobriety checks and a Breathalyzer test after smelling alcohol on Webster's breath, state police spokesman Mike Stater said. Webster was arrested and taken to Franklin County Jail, where he was given another reathalyzer test, then charged with DUI, Stater said. The spokesman said he didn't know Webster's blood-alcohol level.
The DUI charge comes six months after a Roanoke General District Judge convicted Webster of brandishing a firearm outside a fast - food restaurant. That stemmed from a December confrontation between Webster and the woman in front of him in the drive-through lane of Wendy's on Williamson Road. According to testimony, Webster held up a pistol as the woman and he exchanged insults.
Webster was fined $200 and ordered to give up the pistol. County Administrator Rick Huff suspended Webster for a month without pay before letting him return to work in March.
On the job, Webster came across as calm and unflappable. Four weeks ago, he commanded fire and rescue efforts after a boiler exploded in the Ronile yarn-dyeing factory in Rocky Mount.
Webster was hired as a county assistant public safety director in 1990 and became director in 1993. Johnson credited Webster with fostering a relationship between the county and fire and rescue volunteers in which the board of supervisors provides funding for equipment for community volunteer departments.
"We all agree that Claude has done a fine job," Johnson said.
http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/news/story134894.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
By STEVE LAWRENCE Associated Press Writer
(Published Wednesday, August 14, 2002, 1:25 PM)
SACRAMENTO (AP) - Saying guns should have the same product liability standards as other items, the California Senate voted Wednesday to remove a lawsuit shield protecting firearm manufacturers.
Sen.s approved a bill that would overturn a 1983 law that bars lawsuits accusing gun companies of willful or negligent acts or omissions in the design, distribution and marketing of firearms and ammunition.
"There ought to be product liability when something is responsible for 30,000 deaths in America every year and for countless injuries," said Sen. Jack Scott, D-Altadena.
"We're saying that maybe if they have been irresponsible, if they have a product that's faulty or have been irresponsible in the way they advertise they ought to have a little responsibility."
The bill, by Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-North Hollywood, stems from a year-old state Supreme Court decision that said a gun company couldn't be sued by survivors of a 1993 San Francisco office building rampage that killed eight people.
The plaintiffs claimed the manufacturer of two assault weapons used in those killings, Navegar Inc., was liable for damages because it marketed the guns to appeal to criminals and should have known they would be used in a massacre.
Opponents of Koretz's bill described it as an attempt to discourage gun making and shift the blame for violence from criminals.
"It's the nut behind the trigger that causes the damage, not the manufacturer of the gun itself," said Sen. Ray Haynes, R-Riverside.
Sen. Rico Oller, R-San Andreas, said the "ultimate goal" of bill supporters was to make life so difficult for gun manufacturers that they will stop making their products.
"There are objects that are inherently dangerous and even if used in the proper way there is a degree of risk," he said. "If we carry this argument to the logical conclusion there is no object that's safe in our society to use, own or sell."
But Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, said the bill was "not a gun (control) bill. It's a bill that deals with consumers and their right to go to court and have their day."
Other products are "subject to normal tort standards for liability," he said. "We're not asking for anything more or anything less, just the same thing" for guns.
Wednesday's 22-13 vote returned the bill to the Assembly, which initially approved it last year before it was amended to deal with gun liability.
http://www.fresnobee.com/state_wire/story/3976466p-5002133c.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
The Western Mail
A CROWN court judge has called for more controls on the use of air weapons.
Judge Huw Daniel said that he could not understand why powerful air rifles were not subject to some form of licensing.
The judge had just dealt with a case of a man who admitted possessing a
.22 calibre air rifle with intent to cause fear of violence.
While drunk, Kevin Andrew Edwards had waved the rifle at one of two women walking along a road and said that he would kill one of them.
Edwards, 18, of Well Street in Holy-well, who had already served the equivalent of a seven-month sentence while on remand, was given a two-year community rehabilitation order.
The judge, sitting at Mold Crown Court, said that no firearm certificate was needed for air rifles and he had never really understood why.
"A .22 air rifle can be just as dangerous in the wrong hands as an ordinary small calibre rifle although the range is not as great," said Judge Daniel.
They were powerful weapons and bearing in mind the use made of air rifles these days, he said there should be some form of licensing procedure.
Judge Daniel ordered that Edwards's air rifle with telescopic sights should be forfeited and destroyed. "I don't think this man is fit to have a rifle," said the judge.
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/page.cfm?objectid=12115112&method=full&siteid=50082
"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
(Filed: 13/08/2002)
On the streets of Britain's biggest cities, an illegal handgun can be bought for as little as ?50.
The black-market supply of these weapons has increased enormously since the break-up of the Soviet Union, and changes in European frontier regulations have made it much easier to smuggle them into the country. As Kate Hoey, the Labour MP for Vauxhall, wrote in our Sport section yesterday, there are some inner-city areas in which it is now easier to buy an illegal gun than to find a taxi in the rain.
What a farce it was, therefore, that guns belonging to competitors in the shooting events at the Commonwealth Games were transported from Heathrow Airport to the National Shooting Centre at Bisley, Surrey, in armoured cars. Did anybody seriously believe that criminals would risk ambushing the competitors for their guns, while there were already more than enough illegal weapons in the country to keep the underworld armed to the teeth for at least the next 10 years?
The truth is that the Firearms Act, 1997, which outlawed the ownership of most handguns in Britain, did nothing to discourage their illegal use. Indeed, the number of crimes in which handguns were carried increased by no less than 40 per cent in the two years after the Act became law.
The only people who suffered from the ban, introduced by the Major government in an attempt to be seen to be doing something after the Dunblane massacre, were those who owned and used their guns lawfully.
Among the hardest hit were Britain's competitive shooters, who proved again at the Commonwealth Games that they are the equals of any in the world. England alone won 18 medals, five of them gold, while Northern Ireland won two golds, and Scotland and Wales five medals between them.
The effect of the Act on these competitors has been to force them abroad to train. This has not only been hugely expensive and inconvenient for most of them, putting them at a great competitive disadvantage. It has also been a national humiliation.
Bisley has been the home of shooting since 1898. Newly modernised, after the investment of some ?6 million of lottery money, it has some of the finest pistol ranges in the world. Yet Britain has been exposed by the Act as one of the very few countries in the world that does not trust its law-abiding citizens to own handguns.
As Miss Hoey argued so powerfully yesterday, the renovation of Bisley and Britain's successes at the Games should give the Government its cue to amend a hastily introduced, ill thought-out and unjust law.
http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml;$sessionid$ELOYPB2DE3ARHQFIQMGCFGGAVCBQUIV0?xml=/opinion/2002/08/13/dl1302.xml&sSheet=/opinion/2002/08/13/ixopinion.html&_requestid=107465
"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
In the first place, it disturbs me to hear that Kahr is a subsidiary of a Moon holding company. In the second place, if Kahr had guns stolen by employees with criminal records, they may well be vulnerable in this suit, not to mention the bad publicity the Moon connection will give them. This, of course, is why Brady is jumping on board. They know it's winnable, and they want to be connected to a win. Parasitic? Yes, but prime pickings for a politically motivated organization.
Frankly, I think Kahr Arms needs to sever ties with the Moonies completely. This news puts a deep freeze on my interest in Kahr guns bigtime.
- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Edited by - offeror on 08/15/2002 13:20:11
If I'm wrong please correct me, I won't be offended.
The sound of a 12 gauge pump clears a house fatser than Rosie O eats a Big Mac !