Los Angeles Times: Decision Favors Gun Makers

[url]http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000021828mar26.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dcalifornia[/url]

Decision Favors Gun Makers
Court: A federal judge rules that manufacturers cannot be held responsible for
Buford Furrow's shooting rampage in 1999.
By DAVID ROSENZWEIG
TIMES STAFF WRITER

March 26 2002

Gun manufacturers were not responsible for the actions of a white supremacist
who killed a Filipino American postal worker after wounding five people at a
Jewish community center in 1999, a Los Angeles federal judge ruled Monday.

U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins dismissed a damage suit brought by the
mother of slain letter carrier Joseph S. Ileto and the parents of three children
wounded when Buford O. Furrow Jr. sprayed the center with automatic weapons fire
on Aug. 10, 1999.

While expressing sympathy for the victims, Collins said their lawsuit failed to
demonstrate a link between the gun makers and Furrow's shooting rampage. Peter
Nordberg, a Philadelphia lawyer who represents the victims, said he would confer
with his clients and other lawyers in the case before deciding whether to
appeal.

Furrow, a convicted felon with a history of mental instability, had an arsenal
of assault-style weapons in his possession when he shot up the North Valley
Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills and later killed Ileto, who was
delivering mail in Chatsworth.

The weapons included an Austrian-made Glock 9-millimeter handgun; a 9-millimeter
rifle with an illegally shortened barrel made by Norinco, an arm of the Chinese
military; a .223-caliber rifle from Bushmaster of Maine; two .308-caliber rifles
made by Imbel of Brazil; an Egyptian Maadi rifle and a .22-caliber handgun
manufactured by Davis Industries, a California corporation.

Exactly one year ago today, Furrow was sentenced to multiple life terms in
prison after negotiating a plea agreement that spared him from having to face a
possible death sentence for Ileto's slaying.

The lawsuit against the gun manufacturers was filed in Los Angeles Superior
Court but was transferred to federal court because Norinco is owned by the
Chinese government.

Lawyers for the victims leveled a broad attack on the gun makers' marketing
practices. They accused Glock and the other defendants of producing and
distributing substantially more firearms than could possibly be bought by
law-abiding customers.

Many of those weapons are sold at gun shows and through "kitchen-table" dealers
who may be licensed but are loosely regulated, the lawsuit charged.

-- continued --

The suit contended that the manufacturers often advertise their products with
the illicit market in mind. It singled out Glock's promotion of its 9-millimeter
"pocket rocket" concealable handgun, the one Furrow is believed to have used
when he killed Ileto.

In all, the suit argued, the gun manufacturers were guilty of negligence and
being a dangerous public nuisance.

But in a 37-page draft opinion, Collins said the plaintiffs had failed to show a
link between the manufacturers' marketing policies and Furrow's crime.

"While it may be foreseeable that some criminals might obtain Glock firearms and
use them to harm others," she wrote, "there was no way of foreseeing that this
particular individual [Furrow] would obtain a Glock firearm and use it to injure
these plaintiffs."

Collins said she was influenced by California's product liability law, which
"evidences an intent to hold shooters, not manufacturers, responsible for gun
violence."

Collins also dismissed the claim that the gun manufacturers' distribution
methods created a public nuisance under California law.

She said the nuisance law does not apply to the lawful manufacture and sale of
non-defective products.

In court Monday were plaintiffs Loren Lieb and Alan Stepakoff, whose son,
Joshua, then 6, was shot in the leg and hip. They declined to comment on the
ruling.

Koji Fukumura, an attorney for Norinco, praised Collins' ruling, saying she
"came to the only conclusion possible under California law--that these
defendants owed no duty to prevent Buford Furrow from committing his heinous
acts."

If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at
latimes.com/archives. For information about reprinting this article, go to
www.lats.com/rights.

Yet another good sign for us...[:)]

From the article:

'...a 9-millimeter rifle with an illegally shortened barrel made by Norinco, an arm of the Chinese military...'

Norinco UZI model with real UZI smg barrel?

Must be.

Eric The(Hmmmm)Hun[>]:)]

"sprayed the center with automatic weapons fire"

I never heard that he used a michine gun. Wow!

Or a Norinco UZI that had a run in with a band saw.

Finally - it only took THREE DAMN YEARS to figure out that a manufacturer sells a PRODUCT, but neither INTENT nor MOTIVE.  Geez - I was waiting to hear of lawsuits against knife makers in Japan after the janitor over there went on a stabbing binge last year...  Bravo Zulu to Her Honour Collins - at least some jurists still have some sense!

Even remembering the case law preventing liability against Law Enforcement failing to exercise a percieved (NOT actual!) duty to the protection of indivdual members of society, I still expected this one to get naled shut since they went after the mfr and not the LEO's

Sorry if this doesn't make the usual sense - I'm at an emitional crossroads right now and this helped only slightly....  Tells you how far off I am!

FFZ

Yep another one down, but the anti-gunners/trial lawyers flush with billion dollars tobacco settlements only have to win a few lawsuits to achieve their goal of bankrupting the gun manufacturers.

What a sorry sack of shit.  Can't even afford to use the "real deal".  It was butthole stock equipped and still considered an "assault weapon"?  Fuck all of them!



Look at this bullshit.  Stop fucking around and buy more guns!!!!

Don't jump for joy yet. There are two bills in the CA legislature to REPEAL the law that the judge used to protect the gun makers.

[url]http://www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/acsframeset2text.htm[/url]

[url]http://www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/acsframeset2text.htm[/url]