Judge dismisses NAACP's gun suit

A federal judge threw out the NAACP's case against the gun industry yesterday, despite finding that the manufacturers have put the public at risk with careless marketing practices.

Affirming a jury verdict in favor of the gun makers, U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein ruled that the NAACP failed to show, as required by law, that its members were uniquely harmed.

A gun industry spokesman, Lawrence Keane, welcomed the outcome.

"It's regrettable that the industry ever had to defend itself against such a frivolous lawsuit," said Keane, general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

He estimated that the manufacturers spent $10 million on their defense.

NAACP lawyer Elisa Barnes called the decision a "moral victory" that could open the way for the city or state to pursue similar lawsuits demanding reforms by firearms manufacturers.

John Renzulli, a lawyer for Browning Arms Co., predicted the ruling would discourage further litigation.

The NAACP "failed twice - once before a jury that said it didn't have a case and once with a judge who said the same thing," Renzulli said.

align="right">
The NAACP sued Browning Arms, Smith & Wesson, Glock and other major gun makers in 1999, saying they knew corrupt dealers were supplying products to criminals in black and Hispanic neighborhoods and did nothing to stop it. Rather than asking for monetary damages, the NAACP sought sweeping restrictions on buyers and sellers of handguns.

Weinstein's decision follows a two-month trial that concluded in May with an advisory jury ruling that cleared 45 gun manufacturers and distributors of negligence.

Click here to read the entire story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.