rabidly antigun judge throws out NAACP lawsuit

The most rabidly anti-gun judge on the Federal Bench throws out the NAACP lawsuit against the gun industry...

Judge Dismisses NAACP Suit Against Gun Makers

Jul 21, 2003 9:14 am US-Eastern

(NEW YORK) A federal judge has dismissed the NAACP's case against gun makers.

U-S District Judge Jack Weinstein ruled that the civil rights organization failed to prove at a recent trial that the industry's negligent marketing practices have caused unique harm to its members.

The lawsuit claimed the firearms industry knew corrupt dealers were supplying products to criminals in minority communities and did nothing to stop it. The defendants argued it was unfair and illegal to hold manufacturers liable for the criminal use of a legal product.

Even though he ruled against the N-double-A-C-P, Weinstein still found that the group's lawyers established convincing evidence that gun retailers are guilty of "careless practices."

In his ruling, he writes that manufacturers don't take enough steps to eliminate or reduce what he called the "public nuisance they individually and collectively have created."

His decision issued today comes after a trial that ended in May. An advisory jury cleared 45 gun manufacturers and distributors of allegations their marketing practices stoke violence in black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

-- How can you rightfully ask another human being to risk his life to protect yours, when you will buttume no responsibility yourself? Because that is his job and we pay him to do it? Because your life is of incalculable value, but his is only worth the $30,000 salary we pay him? If you believe it reprehensible to possess the means and will to use lethal force to repel a criminal buttault, how can you call upon another to do so for you? - Jeff Snyder, "Nation of Cowards"