The Second Amendment Foundation today applauded the decision by a California appellate court upholding the dismissal of anti-gun lawsuits by Los Angeles, San Francisco and other municipalities.
The lawsuit had originally been dismissed by California Superior Court Judge Vincent P. DiFiglia in March 2003. The lawsuits, filed by Berkeley, Compton, Inglewood, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, and West Hollywood, and the counties of San Mateo and Alameda, alleged that gun makers engaged in unfair trade practices and that resulted in criminal misuse of firearms, causing a “public nuisance.” The First Appellate District, Division One, in the Court of Appeals of the State of California upheld the dismissal.
“This is clearly one more in a series of dismissals of a frivolous legal action against a highly-regulated industry,” said SAF Founder Alan Gottlieb. “There could be no greater proof that Congress needs to pass legislation against these lawsuits than the lawsuits, themselves, and their dismissal rate. We are hardly surprised that the unanimous appeals court ruling, authored by Judge James Marchiano, found that the only business practice the defendants in this case have engaged in is marketing their products in a lawful manner to federally licensed dealers.
“For too long,” Gottlieb continued, “the news media has allowed anti-gunners to perpetuate the myth that the gun industry is unregulated. The press may be afraid to say this, but we’re not: That’s a lie, and the people who accuse gun makers of marketing their products to criminals are liars, and they know it.
“These lawsuits aren’t about public safety, protecting children or stopping crime, and they never have been,” Gottlieb stated. “These lawsuits have been pushed solely in an effort to bully and bankrupt the firearms industry, by extremist organizations and half-baked politicians who have been unable to push their brand of social engineering through Congress and the legislatures, so they turned to the courts. Fortunately, the courts have wisely been following established law instead of making it up as they go along, and the result has been a series of victories for firearms makers.”