| Original Message |
Nancy
Posted Nov 18, 2004 6:15 PM
SECOND AMENDMENT FOUNDATION HAILS ILLINOIS HIGH COURT'S GUN LAWSUIT DISMISSAL
The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) is hailing today's ruling by the Illinois Supreme Court to dismiss two lawsuits filed by the City of Chicago and other plaintiffs against gun manufacturers, distributors and suburban gun shops as a "victory for common sense over political demagoguery."
In one case, the City of Chicago and Cook County were suing firearms manufacturers to recover the costs of dealing with violent crime. In the other case, the families of crime victims were suing the gun industry over the deaths of their loved ones, killed with illegal firearms. Justice Rita Garman wrote the decisions in both rulings.
"Once again," said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb, "a court has ruled that there is no legal basis for politically-motivated lawsuits against a legitimate industry, making a legal product and selling that product in compliance with the law. The court properly noted that the defendants in this case have not created a so-called ‘public nuisance' as alleged by the City of Chicago. If there is a real nuisance in this case, it would be the anti-gun administration of Mayor Richard Daley, which has vigorously worked to disarm honest citizens, not only in Chicago, but throughout the state of Illinois, leaving them defenseless against predatory criminals.
"The fact that this ruling came in Illinois is significant," Gottlieb noted, "because it clearly signals that even in what is considered a liberal state, these kinds of lawsuits ultimately are found to be without merit.
"While we sympathize with the victims of violent crimes and their surviving families," he stated, "it is not gun makers or legitimate retailers who are responsible, but the criminals who commit these crimes, a legal system that puts violent repeat offenders back out on the street, and Mayor Daley's administration, working against the self-defense rights of law-abiding Illinois residents.
"We are hoping," Gottlieb continued, "that this ruling, perhaps more than any of the many other court rejections of similar legal actions against the firearms industry, sends a message to anti-gun politicians like Mayor Daley, and the organizations that support them, to stop what amounts to financial harassment of one of the nation's most regulated industries."
The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 600,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. SAF has previously funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New Haven, CT; and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners, a lawsuit against the cities suing gun makers & an amicus brief & fund for the Emerson case holding the Second Amendment as an individual right.
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