VIRGINIA AP WIRE
Bills banning lawsuits against gun makers quietly progress
Saturday, March 4, 2000 By MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press WriterRICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- While several high-profile gun control bills have died in the General Assembly, legislation designed to help gun makers dodge a potential legal bullet has quietly advanced through the legislature.
On Sunday, a Senate committee is scheduled to consider legislation that would prohibit cities and other local governments from suing gun manufacturers. In the last two years, dozens of cities across the country have sued to recover the costs associated with gun violence, alleging manufacturers have been negligent by failing to attach adequate safety devices.
The House of Delegates approved the bills overwhelmingly, with barely a word of debate.
Mike Rau, spokesman for Virginians Against Handgun Violence, admitted that gun control advocates are essentially powerless to stop the measures.
"The success or failure of this measure lies entirely in the hands of the pro-gun lobby,'' Rau said. "I would say that they would be able to push it through very easily if they choose to do so.''
Rau said his only hope is that the National Rifle Association will seek to shelve the bills so they won't have such a gaudy record of legislative success.
Gun control advocates have already failed on a key item of their legislative agenda. They aggressively pursued legislation that would have closed loopholes allowing guns on school grounds in certain limited circumstances. Those bills were killed in a House committee, along with several others. One would have created a Gun Safety Lock Fund for police to purchase and distribute safety locks to gun owners. Another would have allowed some localities to ban firearms in recreation and community centers.
Rau attributed the NRA's success to its campaign contributions.
"It directly relates to the problems associated with campaign reform,'' Rau said. "The NRA and others put a phenomenal amount of money into the political system. The correlation between the votes and the money they give is scientifically, mathematically, logically irrefutable.''
Gun rights groups and firearms dealers contributed $68,650 to Virginia legislative candidates in the 1999 legislative cycle, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, a newspaper consortium that maintains a database of campaign contributions.
NRA spokesman Bill Powers said any success his organization has enjoyed in the state legislature stems from common sense, not money.
He said it makes sense that the authority to sue a gun manufacturer rest with the state because the state has the ultimate authority to regulate firearms.
Powers said the lawsuits filed by New Orleans, Chicago and other cities are the result of "weak-kneed mayors who have done nothing to address the crime problems in their cities, so they've decided to harass a legitimate industry by filing all these lawsuits.''
So far, 15 states have prohibited local governments from suing gun makers -- Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming. Powers thinks another 10 to 12 states will join that list this year.
"Virginia is certainly one we're hopeful of,'' Powers said.
Del. R. Lee Ware Jr., R-Powhatan, a sponsor of one of two bills that prevent localities from suing gun makers, said he has been surprised by the lack of discussion of his bill, which passed the House 76-21.
"I really did look for there to be at least a little controversy,'' Ware said.
Ware said the bill is needed to prevent harassment of a legitimate industry.
"I make the analogy to a car dealer who sells a car to a person. Then that person goes out and gets drunk and somebody gets injured. It's not the car dealer's fault,'' Ware said.
Gun control supporter Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax and a member of the Courts of Justice Committee that will consider the bills Sunday, said nobody lobbied her either way on the issue.
"I just haven't heard much about it,'' Howell said. "I think now I'll look at it very closely.''