The Bush Administration And Lawsuits

Demand the Bush Administration Withdraw from Anti-gun Lawsuits
— Also pressure Attorney General Ashcroft; see below

Gun Owners of America E-Mail/FAX Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408

November 20, 2001

On October 31, 1999, the city of New Orleans launched the first of over thirty harassment lawsuits attempting to outlaw the sale and manufacture of firearms in the United States.

These lawsuits were not random, nor were they coincidental. Rather, these anti-gun lawsuits were the brainchild of a group of trial lawyers from Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas using billions of dollars of proceeds they had received in legal fees from their suits against tobacco companies.

At the head of this group was New Orleans attorney Wendell Gauther, who used his wealth from the tobacco settlement to search for cities willing to attack the gun industry. According to the Weekly Standard, “The legal offensive against gun makers has taken off since Gauther’s first client, New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial, filed suit on October 31 against 15 handgun manufacturers…. For the New Orleans suit, Gauther and Mayor Morial enlisted the help of Sarah Brady….”

Not surprisingly, New Orleans, Chicago, Miami-Dade County, Bridgeport, and other municipalities seeking to eliminate firearms ownership attempted to use many of the same legal theories they had successfully used to impose a $206 billion settlement on tobacco manufacturers.

These legal theories attempted to outlaw both cigarettes and guns from the American marketplace by arguing that manufacturers of legal products (such as guns) should be held liable for all of the adverse consequences stemming from the misuse of those products.

Now the Bush administration is at a crossroads with respect to whether it will continue to press these legal theories intended to bankrupt manufacturers of potentially dangerous, yet lawful products.

Currently, the targets are tobacco companies. But gun dealers, manufacturers, and owners could just as easily be the victims of these lawsuits in the future.

ACTION: Write the Bush administration. Ask it to drop lawsuits against companies that use theories which could also outlaw gun ownership.

E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 202-456-1414

—– Pre-written message —–

Dear President Bush:

One of the biggest threats to the Second Amendment is the legal theory that manufacturers of lawful products can be sued for the misuse of those products.

Tragically, suits brought against tobacco companies by the Clinton administration could, if successful, be just as effective in outlawing the manufacture and sale of firearms.

Please distance yourself from these misbegotten legal theories, and drop all lawsuits attempting to hold manufacturers responsible for the misuse of their lawful products.

Sincerely,

**************

Please consider stopping by http://www.keepandbeararms.com to sign a petition urging U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to fully support the Second Amendment. Ashcroft has stated in public that he believes that Americans have an individual right to keep and bear arms. Now, he needs to step up to the plate and use his office to help protect that right.