NRA Completes Hat Trick
By Ron Pinciaro

In a sudden and surprising move that caught opponents off guard, the National Rifle Association completed the ultimate Constitutional hat trick by forcing S. 397 through the U.S. Senate. The gun lobby has now blocked all three branches of government from holding them responsible for the 30,000 gun deaths and 150,000 injuries caused by guns annually. Their election war chest has managed to hold the legislative branch in tow; as they have stated in the past, the election of this President effectively gave them a desk in the oval office; and now, with the passage of this legislation (sure to be repeated in the House), they have prevented the Judicial Branch from holding the industry accountable for negligence or misconduct in deaths or injury caused by firearms. With this hat trick, they have circumvented the system of checks and balances that the founders hoped would protect us from tyranny.

S. 397, which passed the U.S. Senate by a vote of 65 to 31, prohibits civil liability actions from being brought against manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or importers of firearms or ammunition for damages resulting from misuse by others. Any qualified civil liability action that is pending on the date of the bill's enactment would be dismissed. It effectively closes the courthouse doors to an entire class of defendants, victims of gun violence.

Democrats were infuriated when Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist suddenly announced that he intended to take up this legislation before the August recess. The action was all the more striking because it meant that the Senate would have to set aside, until September at the earliest, debate on the $441.6 billion defense authorization for the fiscal year that begins on October 1. As stated in a Washington Post editorial on the day debate began, "With a snap of its fingers, the National Rifle Association has caused Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to halt debate on the critical Defense Department Appropriations bill today so that the Senate can take up an NRA-sponsored bill immunizing gun dealers from civil lawsuits for the carnage wrought with their products…. A more unfair and irrational special-interest shield from civil justice is difficult to imagine." Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich), took the floor to admonish her fellow Senators saying, "We left the Defense Authorization bill that would provide materials and benefits to our soldiers in a time of war for this - a very narrow special interest gun immunity bill." Just in case there was any misunderstanding of the marching orders, the White House warned that "any amendment that would delay enactment of the bill beyond this year is unacceptable."

And what was the justification for trying to rush this bill through at this time? Well, the gun lobby claimed, there is a crisis at hand. According to Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), manufacturers would be subject to a flood of lawsuits that would put them out of business. But as pointed out by Sen. Reed (D-RI), and a number of other Senators, there is no crisis. Of the more than 10 million tort suits brought before state courts between 1993 and 2003, only fifty-seven involved gun liability. And according to the 10-Q report filed with the SEC by Smith & Wesson, their total out-of-pocket legal costs for the first nine months of the current fiscal year were $4,535! A crisis? Proponents of the bill made no attempt to provide data or arguments to support their claim that there was an imminent crisis.

Who benefits from this action then? Well it's not the overwhelming majority of the industry that is diligent and responsible. They don't need immunity. It can only be the small minority of dealers, distributors, importers and manufacturers who are negligent and reckless in allowing guns to fall into the hands of criminals. Certainly Bulls Eye Shooter Supply, the Tacoma WA dealer who allowed the Bushmaster rifle to fall into the hands of John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, the Washington Snipers, would have been helped. The suit brought successfully by the families of six victims and the two surviving victims would not have been allowed had this legislation been in place then. It is well documented that 57% of guns traced from gun crimes were originally sold by less than 2% of federally licensed firearm dealers. Now those dealers will have immunity from any responsibility for their actions. What incentives would they have to clean up their acts if they have immunity? Especially in an industry that already has no product regulation? No other industry enjoys or has ever enjoyed such blanket immunity. They are now the one and only industry that is immune to the risk that their products or conduct could have from even the most easily preventable actions of third parties. You can be injured by any product made by any company in this country and have your day in court to try to get a just remedy - unless that company is a gun company and the product is a gun. Then you have no remedy. Why? Because the NRA had the votes and they wanted payback from the Senators whose election campaigns they supported. One Senator commented that a gun company could now park a truckload full of assault rifles on a city street with no protection and be immune to any liability resulting from that gross negligence.

And yet supporters of the bill tried to use the ruse that they were only trying to protect the industry from frivolous suits brought from the action of third parties who unlawfully misused their products. But when Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich) proposed an amendment that would allow the industry immunity for actions caused by the negligence or misconduct of others; but would hold them responsible if their own misconduct was the proximate cause of a death or injury, this amendment was rejected by a 62 to 37 vote, a clear indication that fairness was not part of the agenda. Rhode Island Senator Reed tried to remind proponents of the bill that "at the heart of this is not people who make or sell guns. At the heart is people who are victims of gun violence through the negligence of manufacturers and dealers." And this legislation not only closes the courthouse door to new victims. It even bars people who already won their cases, which may now be on appeal, from justice.

When this same bill came up for a vote last year, in March, Democrats offered amendments that were so unpalatable to the NRA that the NRA urged their supportive members to kill the bill. But attaching those kind of amendments didn't work this year in the wake of GOP gains in the last election. After withdrawing last year, the NRA wrought vengeance at the polls, working to defeat then-Democratic Minority Leader Tom Daschle in South Dakota and picking up a total of four Senate votes for its position. The changed climate is demonstrated by the fact that Democratic Senator Robert Byrd, up for re-election next year in West Virginia, added his name to the co-sponsors during the week. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who still harbors Presidential ambitions, also became a co-sponsor since the last congress. And Mr. Daschle's leadership post now is filled by Nevada Senator Harry Reid, a strong NRA ally and one of twelve Democrats to support the lobby.

Estimates are that there are currently about 300 million guns in American households. Millions are sold every year. Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) stated during the floor debate that "the legal market cannot possibly be absorbing so many weapons." And former Maryland Congressman Mike Barnes, now President of the Brady Campaign, the leading national group advocating for gun safety, said of this legislation that it "removes the one threat facing those gun sellers that look the other way and help supply the criminal market." Supplying that illegal market will be a lot easier now.

And so the hat trick is completed. If we needed a test to see if a powerful and heavily funded special interest group could overturn our system of checks and balances, the results are in. So now it is time for reasonable people to stand up to these bullies and stop them from tampering with the true purpose for which the people established the institutions of our government.

Ron Pinciaro is Co-Executive Director with CT Against Gun Violence (CAGV) and the CAGV Education Fund, state-wide groups working to reduce gun violence through public education and legislative advocacy.

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