Firearms Industry Prepares For Ambush In Brooklyn Court

Selection of “Advisory Jury” Begins Today

NEWTOWN, CT – The trial of the NAACP’s lawsuit that seeks to blame gun makers for gun violence in African-American communities began today in Brooklyn federal court before Judge Jack B. Weinstein, considered in legal circles to be the nation’s most liberal, activist judge.

The trial began with the selection of an “advisory” jury to hear, but not decide, the case. Judge Weinstein had earlier denied the gun makers’ demand that a jury decide the case. Instead Judge Weinstein will decide the trial’s outcome and is free to disregard the advisory jury’s findings.

“The NAACP’s outrageous and defamatory allegation that gun makers knowingly and willingly sell guns to criminals is identical to the claims being made by big city mayors, greedy trial lawyers and radical anti-gun groups in a series of municipal lawsuits filed against members of the firearms industry in cities like Chicago, Newark, Washington, DC and New York City,” said Lawrence G. Keane, vice president & general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearm industry’s trade association.

“Blaming manufacturers for crime is an utterly discredited legal theory and is simply wrong. That’s why these cases have been overwhelmingly dismissed by the courts. Where cases have been allowed to proceed, these despicable allegations have been proven to be false. That’s why Boston abandoned its case and California’s case was just thrown out of court after three years of discovery,” added Keane.

Elisa Barnes, attorney for the NAACP, successfully manipulated this lawsuit into the court of Judge Weinstein. She pulled the same fast move several years earlier to get a similar case, Hamilton v. Accu-Tek, into Judge Weinstein’s court room, which resulted in a 1999 jury verdict against gun makers that was later thrown out by an appellate court.

In order to ensure Judge Weinstein would hear the NAACP case, Barnes didn’t sue Beretta USA Corp., the third largest handgun manufacturer in the United States. Barnes had earlier sued Beretta USA in the Hamilton case. Had she sued Beretta USA, court rules would have prevented the case from being heard in federal court because
both Beretta USA and the NAACP are based in Maryland, thereby preventing Barnes from steering the case into Judge Weinstein’s courtroom.

“The NAACP obviously thought it more important to have a judge it thinks will be favorably predisposed to its case than to sue one of the largest gun makers in the country. The funny thing is Ms. Barnes thought Beretta USA was very important in the Hamilton case. I highly doubt her opinion of Beretta USA, wrong as it may be, has recently changed,” said Keane.

The NAACP’s lawsuit is being funded by, and receiving legal assistance from, extreme anti-gun groups like the Brady Center to Prevent Handguns, the Violence Policy Center, Americans for Gun Safety, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, the Irene Diamond Fund, George Soros’ Open Society Institute and Funders’ Collaborative For Gun Violence Prevention.

“These anti-gun groups have joined forces in this lawsuit to try and achieve their unpopular anti-gun agenda through this lawsuit. They are before an activist judge they believe will, regardless of the facts presented, rule in their favor,” Keane said. “These groups know the clock is running out on their abuse of our judicial system. They know a majority of both the Senate and the House of Representatives are sponsoring the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (S. 659/H.R. 1036) that will stop these junk lawsuits that try to blame manufacturers for crime,” Keane added.
According to a recent poll conducted by the American Tort Reform Association 83.4% of Americans believe there are too many lawsuits in America. In another recent poll conducted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 69% of Americans said they would be more favorable toward their Senator or Representative if they voted to reform the way class action lawsuits are handled in the United States.

“The time has come for Congress to enact common sense legal reforms to restore integrity and fairness to our judicial system and put a stop to these junk lawsuits that waste millions of taxpayer dollars and threaten to bankrupt an entire industry and eliminate thousands of important manufacturing jobs,” said Keane.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), formed in 1961, is the trade association for the firearms and recreational shooting sports industry.

-30-