They started with a bang in the Age of Columbine. Thirty-three cities and counties filed lawsuits against gun manufacturers, aided and abetted by some trial lawyers who hadnt made a big score since they shook down the tobacco industry, aided and abetted by the states.
This is great stuff thought much of the media, which devoted thousands of reports to the lawsuits and every gun horror story they had ever heard.
This aint such great stuff at all said the courts, partially or fully dismissing 13 of the 14 cases that have reached judgment. Not great at all said 26 states which have enacted laws to prohibit local government lawsuits against gun makers. Not at all said Bob Barr (R-Ga.), a National Rifle Association director and also a member of Congress whose proposed federal legislation would shut down the whole exploitative scheme before there is no gun industry left and U.S. police forces must start competitive bidding for crossbows and catapults.
This is disgraceful, now says Robert Levy, the brilliant constitutional scholar of the Cato Institute who thoroughly dissects the lawsuits in "Pistol Whipped: Baseless Lawsuits, Foolish Laws."
Its here; right now. Read it, read it again, and then get 10 friends to do the same. This is great stuff.
To read the full text of the paper, click on: Pistol Whipped: Baseless Lawsuits, Foolish Laws, reprinted with permission from its author, Robert A. Levy, Senior Fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute.
2001