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NEWS RELEASE
Second Amendment Foundation
12500 NE Tenth Place . Bellevue, WA 98005
(425) 454-7012 . FAX (425) 451-3959 . www.saf.org
SECOND AMENDMENT FOUNDATION LAUDS LAWSUIT RULING FAVORING GUN MAKER
For Immediate Release: 10/1/2004
The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) today lauded a West Virginia court
ruling reinforcing the notion that gun makers operating in a legal manner,
selling legal products should not be penalized for the illegal acts of
people outside their control.
"While we sympathize with former Orange, N.J. police officers Kenneth
McGuire and Dave Lemongello, who were victims of a horrible shooting, there
are ample court precedents that clearly establish they were not entitled to
damages from the manufacturer," said SAF Founder Alan Gottlieb.
The now-retired officers had sued Sturm, Ruger & Co. of Southport, CT after
they were shot by a criminal using a Ruger handgun in 2001. The gunman,
Shuntez Everett, was killed in the gunfight. The gun had been originally
sold to a federally-licensed wholesale distributor, then sold by the
distributor to a federally-licensed retailer. The pistol was purchased
legally by a West Virginia resident. Only after a series of transactions did
the handgun wind up in New Jersey. A South Charleston, WV pawnshop sold the
gun to cab driver Tammi Songer in an apparent straw man purchase for James
Gray, a convicted felon, who took the handgun to New Jersey, where it
eventually wound up in Everett's possession. Gray and Songer served time in
prison for their crime. The pawn shop settled for $1 million in June.
"Sturm, Ruger violated no laws, and had nothing to do with the transaction
that ultimately put the gun in Everett's hands," Gottlieb stated. "To hold
Sturm, Ruger responsible for their injuries would be like holding Ford
responsible for a car crash caused by a convicted drunk driver who had
someone else buy the car second-hand for him from a used-car dealer in
another state.
"Kanawha County Circuit Judge Irene Berger made the proper decision,"
Gottlieb stated. "The person ultimately responsible for the shooting was the
gunman, and he's dead.
"It is insidious to think that the manufacturer of any legal product,
including a firearm, could be held liable for the deliberate criminal misuse
of that product after it had changed hands so many times," Gottlieb
continued. "Such lawsuits only provide false hopes to crime victims while
doing nothing to hold the real criminals responsible."
The Second Amendment Foundation is the nation's oldest and largest
tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing
on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess
firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 600,000
members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform
the public about the consequences of gun control. SAF has previously funded
successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New
Haven, CT; and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners, a lawsuit
against the cities suing gun makers & an amicus brief & fund for the Emerson
case holding the Second Amendment as an individual right.
-END-
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Mark
"I believe that there are more instances of
the abridgment of the freedom of people by
gradual and silent encroachment than
by violent and sudden usurpations."
James Madison
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