Public nuisance laws may apply, appeals court says

By Robert Becker and Christi Parsons
Tribune staff reporters
Published January 1, 2002

In a significant victory for gun-control advocates, the Illinois Appellate Court ruled Monday that gunmakers and distributors can be sued on the grounds that their products create a
public nuisance.

For the whole article:
[url]http://chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0201010192jan01.story?coll=chi%2Dnews%2Dhed[/url]

This goes against the recent ruling in the CA court which said gunmakers cannot be held liable for criminal use of their product.

Boy, I'd like to know how they "prove" that one. Last time I checked, we let market forces rule. Are they giving guns away in Chicago? Throwing unsold guns in the garbage? What are the signs of "oversupply" in this case?
Sounds like an idiot judge.

Secondary market? WTF?   You mean private sales?  Guess what, the buyer needs a FOID card, and you must take a copy of that, and a DL, and store it for 10 yrs.

After being on the north side of the city for NYE, I heard how great chicago is on gun control. My buddies house sounded like a war zone.  Heck my buddy went out and popped his Glock 19 in the air.
Dont give me crap about it either, I tried to stop him, and told him it was wrong.  I didnt pull the trigger.
c-rock

Yeah cause the plethora of gun manufacturers on this country are forcing dealers to carry massive overstock of soon to become outdated firearms so that dealers will drop prices and sell at a loss in order to force people to buy guns and commit crimes with them.
Bull
Wasnt it the City of Chigago that the family of the slain officer originally sued due to the firearm used to shoot him being former city property sold to the public when the city traded up duty weapons ? The old ones were sold off in lots to dealers or qualified individuals along with confiscated or abandoned weapons of value as well as weaopns to be scrapped that the city failed to track and some of those ened up back on the street. Sounds like the city sidesteeped any accountability by throwing in with the anti gun proponents. Anyway nusiance laws as stated in the article usually address unregulated activities that cause problems that are not otherwise addressed in statute. Gun manufacture and sale is the most heavily regulated industry in the US. More than likely this will be overturned on appeal. The real scary part is an ovbously anti gun judge who could not put aside thier personal feelings while sitting on the bench and ruling on a case at best he/she should have recused himself and let some other more objective judge hear the case. Probably a political appointment.

What do you expect?  It's Illinois.

Once again, the Big Pro 2nd Amendment groups, you know who they all are, aren't fighting the fight to win.

NRA is the biggest charlatan here. Why aren't they openly supporting Emerson in getting his case before the Supreme Court?

Where's Larry Pratt & GOA? And CCRKBA? And all the rest of them who are always hustling us for our money?

When are they all going to file a class action law suit against all the Gun Grabbing Organizations such as Sarah Brady's Fascists?

These Law Suits against the Manufacturers are a violation of our Civil Rights. Why hasn't Brady been sued over this?

And where's our boy Bush?

Shouldn't he be speaking out in favor of the 2nd right about now.

And how about Ashcroft?

Shouldn't he be enforcing the 2nd Amendment by sending Army Troops to Kalifornia to see that they cease and desist from depriving citizens of their Right to Keep & Bear Arms?


Makes me wanna puke!

Personally, I would wait until the NRA, GOA, etc comment on it.  The Chicago Trib is a rabidly anti-gun.  This is only partial victory so far. Just sit tight, because the Trib is playing mind games with the gunners. DON'T FALL FOR IT!
============================================================

Los Angeles Times: Court OKs Suits Against Gun Makers

[url]http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-gun-lawsuit0101jan01.story?coll=sns%2Dap%2Dnation%2Dheadlines[/url]

Court OKs Suits Against Gun Makers
By MIKE ROBINSON
Associated Press Writer

January 1 2002, 1:52 PM PST

CHICAGO -- An Illinois appeals court has ruled that the families of a slain
Chicago police officer and four others killed by gang bullets can file public
nuisance lawsuits against gun makers and distributors.

But the 35-page opinion issued Monday by Justice William Cousins of the Illinois
Appellate Court sharply narrowed the scope of the families' lawsuits.

It said the families were free to sue manufacturers and distributors of the guns
used in the crimes, but barred them from suing other gun makers as a public
nuisance.

That represented a step back from a Feb. 14 ruling by Circuit Judge Jennifer
Duncan-Brice that would have allowed the families to sue more than two dozen
firearms manufacturers and distributors, including ones whose products were not
used in the five Chicago shootings.

Even so, the appeals court's decision represents a major victory for gun control
forces, said Jonathan Baum, an attorney for the families of Officer Michael
Ceriale and the four others.

"What the court has ruled was that the manufacturers set in motion a chain of
events with the foreseeable result being the death of our clients," Baum said.

The manufacturers remaining as defendants include Bryco Arms, Navegar Inc. and
Smith & Wesson Corp. Dealers named include Breit & Johnson Sporting Goods Inc.
and Chuck's Gun Shop, where the pistol in the Ceriale shooting was purchased.

The defendants could appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court. Otherwise, the case
goes back to the trial court.

There was no immediate response from the National Rifle Association or William
N. Howard, an attorney for Chuck's Gun Shop. However, the Illinois State Rifle
Association said Tuesday if the court's logic was extended to other industries,
any number of products could be found unlawful.

"For example, manufacturers of hypodermic syringes must know that their products
will be used to inject illegal drugs," the association said.

The gun makers had maintained it was not fair to link them with street crime
just because their lawful products were misused. The appeals court, however,
ruled that a genuine case of public nuisance might be made.

Ceriale was shot in August 1998 on a late-night drug stakeout outside a public
housing project in Chicago. He died a week later.

Copyright 2001 Associated Press

Gee, maybe Smith and Wesson should point that they kissed Clinton's ass are supposed to be exempt from this kind of thing.

This is all BS and they will lose when it gets to Federal court.  This would be like suing GM because some nutcase went bananas and misused their product to mow down a bunch of people.  That would be like suing Boeing for Sept 11.  This is mainly because of scumbag lawyers who are always looking for ways to make a buck.  Instead of going after the assholes who pulled the triggers, they go after the deep pockets.

i sure hope that state falls into the the lake.
i dont know how people can live there that place sucks.
theres nothing in that state that worth staying for that you cant get elsewhere.
all you gun owners better move out to Free America. BLAH BLAH BLAH

what are the other comments people say about kalif that i can apply here???