[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 43 (Wednesday, April 13, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H1951]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       GUN LIABILITY LEGISLATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Dent). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. McCarthy) is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Mrs. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I talked about no fly. In other 
words, terrorists in this country cannot get onto a plane, but they can 
certainly go into a gun store and be able to buy a gun. Today, I would 
like to talk about gun liability, which is going to be out on the floor 
in the next week or so.
  The leadership of Congress is constantly preaching about personal 
responsibility: Individuals should accept the consequences of their 
actions. I agree with that. Unfortunately, this culture of 
responsibility does not extend to the gun industry and negligent gun 
sellers.
  Both the Senate and the House have bills granting the gun industry 
unprecedented immunity from litigation and other legal actions, legal 
actions that many of us that have suffered from gun violence were able 
to take advantage of in the courts. Under this legislation, dealers and 
manufacturers of guns would receive immunity from any legal action.
  Sellers and makers of nearly every other consumer product must face 
the consequences of their negligence and their misjudgments. 
Manufacturers and sellers of toy guns are more liable for their 
products than the makers and sellers of assault weapons and handguns.
  The NRA has named this issue as their number one legislative priority 
this year. They said this will end frivolous lawsuits, but not a single 
suit against the gun industry has ever been deemed frivolous by a court 
of law.
  This legislation is not about protecting an honest gun dealer who 
illegally sells a gun to someone who later commits a crime. This 
legislation protects cases of gross negligence which has led to the 
deaths of unsuspecting victims.
  For example, I think the majority of us remember the incident here in 
the D.C. area. The owner of the Bull's Eye Shooter Supply Store in 
Washington State was sued because he could not account for 239 guns in 
his inventory. One of these guns was the Bushmaster used in the D.C. 
sniper cases. The D.C. sniper killers were allowed to get their hands 
on a gun because of this store's negligence, but this legislation would 
get Bull's Eye Shooter Supply off the hook from any legal action. By 
the way, the victims were able to sue Bull's Eye and win a court 
judgment.
  Fortunately, there was a lawsuit against Bull's Eye and Bushmaster, 
and part of the settlement was Bushmaster agreeing to work with its 
dealer to promote safer sales practices to prevent incidents of 
negligence. That is one of the tools of being allowed to sue, to make 
manufacturers, to make people responsible for their products.
  This legislation would have required the immediate dismissal of the 
lawsuit against Bull's Eye.
  The gun industry must be subject to the same laws that govern every 
other American business. Courthouse doors must remain open to those 
injured or who have lost loved ones because of the gun industry's 
negligence.
  This bill would allow gun dealers to knowingly sell large quantity of 
guns to a single customer intending to traffic the guns to criminals 
without any legal repercussions.
  Stripping away the threat of legal action would seriously jeopardize 
any opportunity to make guns safer. Without the threat of lawsuits, the 
gun industry will not have any incentives to incorporate gun locks, 
safety triggers and smart gun technology into their products. Had this 
law been in place 40 years ago, the auto industry certainly would not 
have made the cars we are driving any safer than what we are in today.
  Instead of giving the gun industry never-before levels of protection, 
I support giving the gun industry Federal research and development 
money. This money would be used to develop reasonable safety measures 
for their products.
  But Congress has not been responding to the threat of gun violence. 
Let me speak in a language the Congress leadership understands, dollars 
and cents.
  The secret that most people do not understand is the gun violence in 
this country is costing millions and billions of dollars. People do not 
understand that the Centers for Disease Control at one time was able to 
study the economical impact of gun violence in this country. By an act 
here in Congress we are not allowed to do that anymore, so that data 
does not come out.
  Years ago, independent studies have shown gun violence costs our 
health care system over $100 billion every single year, $100 billion. 
The $100 billion a year cost includes premiums paid for private health 
insurance and tax dollars used to pay for Medicaid, Medicaid in our 
States that are having such a hard time, Medicaid that is going to be 
cut here in the House and the Senate. These costs often are not 
reimbursed and cost the States vital health care money.
  Victims who survive suffer years of rehabilitation costing hundreds 
of thousands of dollars. My son was injured 11 years ago and is still 
going under physical therapy to be able to keep what he has.
  The average cost of each firearm fatality, including medical care, 
police services and lost productivity is almost $1 million a year. This 
Nation has to start looking at the gun violence. We can do this without 
the right of gun owners being taken away. Wake up, America.

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