news

Site Home > news home
The year 2000 is only a few months old, but there is already a great deal to report on the progress of the Mayor^s Lawsuit and counterattack lead by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF). On November 30th of last year, SAF, the nation^s oldest and largest firearms civil rights legal defense, research and educational organization, filed a federal lawsuit in Washington, DC against the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) and 24 individual mayors for conspiracy to violate civil and constitution rights, including the First, Second and Ninth Amendments, as well as the creation of undue burden on lawful interstate commerce. The damage to the anti-gun Mayor^s credibility was so great that Mayor^s were put on the defensive. Not only did our efforts force the Clinton/Gore Administration to hold a bogus press conference claim the currently empty threat of joining with the Mayor^s, but only Washington, D.C. has dared to file a similar lawsuit against gun makers since our lawsuit was announced. All other Mayor^s suits appear to be on hold for now. "In response to the Washington, DC suit, SAF has already put plans in motion to sue the Mayor of the crime-ridden, gun-control plagued District," said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb. "And if the Clinton/Gore minions ever file suit, they will be hauled into court yet again!" While the SAF lawsuit has gained strength, the anti-gun Mayor^s are losing in the courtrooms across America. The city of Cincinnati earned the dubious distinction of being the first city to be derailed in their attack against firearm manufacturers, distributors and trade associations. The Court firmly held that the lawsuit was both vague and unsupported by legal precedent. The Bridgeport and Miami-Dade suits were similarly dismissed. In a written opinion, Judge Robert McWeeny who dismissed the case, ruled that the city of Bridgeport, "lack(s) any statutory authorization to initiate such claims" of responsibility against the firearms industry. In Florida, Judge Dean ruled in the dismissal of the Miami-Dade action that the county "lacks standing".. and that "Public Nuisance (criminal misuse of firearms) does not apply to the design, manufacture, and distribution of a lawful product." More good news was made with the dismissal of large portions of both the Atlanta and Chicago lawsuits, with serious doubts surrounding the remaining pieces. All of these cases become legal precedent and provide further evidence against the Mayors^ meritless claims against a legal industry. "As more and more of these city mayors^ suits are dismissed, the more it looks like these suits were only intended to financially injure gun owners and the federally licensed producers and sellers of firearms," stated Gottlieb. "In addition, the USCM readily admits that they are seeking legislation in the courtrooms, which is a clear violation of the separation of powers upon which our great country was founded. This is cause to hold individual mayors and the USCM responsible for their conspiratorial and unconstitutional assaults on law-abiding people." Several states are also intervening to stop the cities^ ridiculous legal shenanigans by passing legislation prohibiting such actions. To date, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming have enacted these laws and several other states are considering it. Several cities affected by these state prohibitions have promised to violate the state laws and continue their anti-gun efforts. This recklessness shows that gun grabbers have no respect for the law or legal authority. The SAF lawsuit alleges three counts against the groups. Count 1 is for violation of lawful interstate commerce. The mayor^s legal challenges have already forced several gun makers to declare bankruptcy, severely downsize their product lines, and/or raise firearm prices, thus hurting consumers - including taxpayer-funded federal, state and local law enforcement agencies - all across the country. Count 2 is for violation of First Amendment rights. The mayor^s lawsuits have prevented the gun manufacturers from educating consumers about their products out of fear of seeing ads in the courtrooms, not to mention that many of the mayor^s lawsuits are trying to eliminate or severely curtail the ability of running ads on firearm products in general. Count 3 is for violation of the Second and Ninth Amendment rights. The Second Amendment is an individual right to keep and bear arms according to the recent decision in United States v. Emerson, 46 F.Supp.2d 598 (N.D. Tex. 1999). The mayor^s attempt to abridge the right to keep and bear arms by putting gun makers out of business causes a violation of the individual^s means to self-defense which is recognized in every courtroom and falls under the Ninth Amendment rights. Attorney Richard Gardiner, a well-known Washington, D.C. firearms civil rights attorney, is the lead attorney working this case against the mayors. In addition to Cincinnati, Miami-Dade, Bridgeport, Chicago and Atlanta, the cities affected by the lawsuit are Boston, Los Angeles, Newark, New Orleans, Washington D.C., Cleveland, Detroit, San Francisco, Berkeley, Sacramento, Oakland, East Palo Alto, Compton, West Hollywood, Inglewood, Camden, Wilmington, Gary, and St. Louis. "The mayors are on notice that their lawsuits will not be free," said Gottlieb. "The Second Amendment Foundation and gun owners across the country will make them accountable for attempting to steal in the judicial branch what they have failed to rob in the legislative branch. Any city filing a similar frivolous lawsuit will be subject to legal action." While the Mayors and other gun grabbers maintain publicly that these lawsuit are designed to either (1) force gun makers to create a safer product (i.e. trigger-locks, ^smart-gun technology, etc.) or (2) seek compensation for the costs of ^gun violence^, most rational people are rightfully skeptical and critical of these lawsuits. In fact, the Second Amendment Foundation has uncovered a great number of documents showing that their true intention is banning gun ownership by putting gun makers out of business through excessively burdensome legal defense costs. "These unnecessary suits are being filed for two simple reasons – to win in the courts what has been rejected at the polls and to destroy gun makers, and by extension the ability of law-abiding gun owners to purchase new firearms," stated Alan Gottlieb. "If there is nobody left to manufacture guns, then the right of gun ownership disappears." The chance for winning financial compensation has been greatly increased after the recent ruling in Dix v. Beretta U.S.A. corp. California Superior Court Judge Richard Hodge ordered plaintiffs to compensate Beretta for their costs of litigation in defending itself against a lawsuit filed with the assistance of Handgun Control, Inc. and the San Francisco law firm of Hersh & Hersh. Furthermore, the underlying case of gun ownership as a civil right have been greatly increased because of the recent decision citing the Second Amendment as an individual right in U.S. v. Emerson. "Unscrupulous lawyers have raised the costs of ladders, coffee, automobiles, and other consumer goods through similar nuisance lawsuits. We must defeat them and win damages, or gun owners might be forced to pay $6,000 for a $400 gun, or worse, there are no new guns for law-abiding Americans to purchase at all!" The Second Amendment Foundation is a tax-deductible education, legal defense and publishing organization founded in 1974 and has over 600,000 individual citizen supporters nationwide. It previously has funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles, New Haven, CT, and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners. All Second Amendment Foundation lawsuits are funded directly by our members and we can only take on cases as our funding allows. If you want to contribute financial help to this landmark legal battle, please send a check or money order to: SAF Mayors Lawsuit • 12500 NE 10th Place • Bellevue, WA 98005. If you would prefer to charge your tax-deductible donation to your VISA/MasterCard, American Express or Discover card, please call 1-800-426-4302.

Uploaded: 4/11/2000