Schumer: Senate Should Shoot Down Lawsuit Immunity for Gun Manufacturers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 5, 2005

SCHUMER: SENATE SHOULD SHOOT DOWN LAWSUIT IMMUNITY FOR GUN MANUFACTURERS

Innocent Victims of Gun Violence Should Be Protected from Defective Guns, Irresponsible Gun Dealers and Manufacturers

U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer joined with the Brady Campaign and a number of other lawmakers and victims of gun violence today to call for the defeat of a bill in the Senate that would grant broad lawsuit immunity to gun manufacturers. Schumer's statement for the press conference follows:

"Last year, the NRA failed in their effort to pass a bill that would have given greedy gun manufacturers and dealers broad immunity against any lawsuit brought by victims of gun violence.

The American court system is not a perfect system, and we took great strides to reform it in the class action bill earlier this year. But the court system is the great equalizer. It allows everyone - from businessmen to electricians to plumbers - to play on the same field under the same rules.

We should never take that level playing field away from ordinary citizens absent some extraordinary circumstance - and there is none in this case.

But that is exactly what the NRA and some Republicans would like to do. I understand that they are going to reintroduce this bill, which is plainly a sweetheart deal for the gun manufacturers and dealers, and a heart attack for victims of gun violence.

We must do everything we can to amend this bill or defeat it.

This bill will hurt victims of gun violence all across America. And I mean that literally: Innocent men, women, and children will end up being shot and killed if this bill passes because a gun dealer can't keep track of his guns and there is no check on him.

This bill will endanger law enforcement officers - like Officers Lomengello and McGuire from New Jersey - or judges like the ones slain by gunmen this year in Chicago and Atlanta - because a gun dealer is too lazy or too greedy to draw the distinction between selling a gun to a lawful citizen and selling one to a violent criminal or straw purchaser.

This bill will immediately put us all in danger because it eliminates the last check our society has on bad gun dealers - the threat of lawsuits - because the regulations on the books are insufficient.

Today, a bad gun dealer has nothing to fear from the federal agency that oversees guns - the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). ATF is underfunded, understaffed and - at most - inspects about 5% of gun dealers a year.

The only thing left standing between bad gun dealers and violent criminals is the threat of lawsuits. And this bill would eliminate that threat, leaving bad dealers free to handle their weapons as negligently as they wish.

And when I say "bad" gun dealers, I mean "bad gun dealers - not the thousands of honest gun dealers across America who follow the law, pay their taxes and serve their communities.

We know who most of these bad gun dealers are. A recent study of ATF data by the group Americans for Gun Safety found that - on average- 57% of ATF's gun traces from crime scenes go back to only 1% of gun dealers nationwide.

Put another way, 1% of the nation's licensed gun dealers - or about 1,000 gun dealers - provide more than half of the guns used in crimes in America.

If we know who the bad gun dealers are in America, it is reasonable to ask - why can't we do something about them? You would think that the government could focus on these bad dealers and eliminate them. But it appears incapable of doing so.

Those bad gun dealers continue to provide guns to "straw purchasers" - or criminals - over and over and over again - with very little consequence. They continue to keep sloppy records - fail to keep proper inventories - and lose their weapons to theft or negligence without even knowing that they have been stolen.

The poster child for the failure of the current system to regulate gun dealers is the Bull's Eye Shooter Supply gun dealer in Tacoma, Washington, the dealer who provided the gun used by the Sniper to shoot and kill 10 people in the Washington, D.C. area.

The sniper rifle was stolen from Bull's Eye sometime in 2001 without the dealer even knowing it.

ATF inspected Bull's Eye not once, not twice, not three times, but four times in six years prior to the sniper shootings. And do you know what those inspections revealed? They revealed that Bull's Eye could not account for over 160 missing guns from its inventory. 160 guns!! 160 possible sniper weapons!!

And what happened since this was discovered?

Well, the ATF then did a real investigation and found that Bull's Eye could not account for - not 160 - but 238 guns. That is 238 guns that were missing Bull's Eyes missing gun rate was worse than 98% of all other gun dealers in America. But it was still open and doing business.

And what recourse was there for the families of the sniper victims while they were waiting for the government to act?

The only remedy left to the D.C. sniper victims's families is the last check left on bad gun dealers across America - the threat of a lawsuit.

The victims of people killed by the D.C. snipers sued the gun dealer for negligence and other claims in Washington State. A judge has looked at the case, denied defendant's motion to dismiss and set a trial date for November 2004.

The system is working as it should. The victims' families have exercised their right to have their day in court.

But passing this Gun Immunity Bill would destroy that right. It is an extreme remedy that would slam the door of the courthouse in the face of all gun crime victims others who try to make sure that gun dealers are responsible.

That the NRA and the Republicans are rushing this bill to the floor of the Senate is a slap in the face of common sense and justice - particularly in this post-9/11 world.

Last month, in fact, we learned from the GAO that our gun laws remain in a pre-9/11 world: That if you're on a terrorist watch list, that's not enough to disqualify you from buying an AK-47 or any other kind of firearm in this country. That's preposterous and should be at the top of Congress' agenda - not creating immunity from lawsuits for the gun manufacturers and dealers.

I will be reintroducing legislation soon to close that loophole.

Our goal in the Senate should be to make it harder for terrorists to obtain deadly weapons - not easier. Our goal in the Senate should be to stand by the side of law enforcement, who put their necks on the line for each and every one of us day in and day out.

Our goal should therefore be to do everything we can to defeat the NRA's gun immunity bill.

http://schumer.senate.gov/SchumerWebsite/pressroom/press_releases/2005/PR41570.Gun%20Immunity.040505.html