FIREARMS manufacturers have readily used technology to increase killing power while failing to use it to add safety features to their weapons.
That is the complaint of five U.S. cities suing gun makers. The worthwhile legal maneuver appears to be gaining momentum now that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and some members of Congress have joined the call to hold manufacturers legally responsible for the societal damage that firearms inflict.
The lawsuits raise several important legal questions. The most intriguing one: Are gun manufacturers accountable for the misuse of a lethal -- but legal -- product? Unlike the tobacco manufacturers successfully sued in last year's multistate class-action case, gun manufacturers never pretended their products are safe.
Regardless of how such questions are settled, the suits give cities a valuable opportunity to explore -- through legal discovery -- whether firearms makers ignored available safety devices and intentionally saturated certain markets with dangerous guns.
Employing a similar legal strategy, states suing the tobacco companies uncovered internal company documents showing that cigarette makers had lied about the damaging health effects of tobacco and nicotine's addictive qualities.
Now the gun industry is on the defensive. Last month, a New York jury found 15 companies guilty of "negligent marketing" for oversupplying guns to states with weak firearm laws, prompting illegal sales in communities with stricter gun laws. And a recent federal study shows that it is easy for criminals to obtain firearms illegally that others had purchased legally.
Most of the cities involved in litigation make a product-liability argument. They contend that gun makers should have developed "smart guns," with devices to prevent unauthorized users from firing them.
A suit filed by the city of New Orleans, for example, claims gun makers were aware of safety devices and warnings to prevent unintentional shootings and suicides but failed to use them.
Baltimore is considering taking legal action against gun manufacturers -- with good reason. Cities have paid a high price for gun violence, through spending for police, corrections, court, emergency and medical services. And the human toll cannot begin to be calculated.
Pub Date: 3/13/99