The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) today applauded the decision by the Arizona Supreme Court upholding the dismissal of a lawsuit against the gun industry by the families of three murder victims in the infamous “Pizza Hut” case in Tucson.
Arizona justices, without comment, upheld an earlier state Court of Appeals decision that threw out the claims by survivors of the shooting victims that gun manufacturers were somehow responsible for the 1999 killings.
“This case was just one more attempt by anti-gun attorneys in the pursuit of headlines and their own political agenda to give false hope to the survivors of murder victims,” said SAF Founder Alan Gottlieb. “We’ve seen over and over again that these lawsuits are losers. Courts consistently have agreed that gun makers cannot be held liable for the criminal acts of people who misuse their products.
“What is truly disturbing about such cases,” he continued, “is that the plaintiffs in these lawsuits are victimized a second time by trial lawyers who realize they have no legitimate claim. Putting the families of murder victims through that kind of an emotional roller coaster ride is unconscionable.”
Gottlieb noted that municipal lawsuits against the gun industry are just as deplorable, because not only have they resulted in crushed hopes for individual plaintiffs, they have also cost taxpayers a fortune; money that could be far better spent on more police, prosecutors and equipment.
“Greedy trial lawyers who continually file such frivolous cases are little more than charlatans masquerading as white knights,” Gottlieb stated. “Time after time, in court after court, they have lost. They manage to cost industry millions of dollars, while leaving their clients with nothing to show but a bill for their services.
“It’s time for Congress to pass legislation that will put an end to these lawsuits,” Gottlieb stated.