http://www.jointogether.org/gv/wire/news/reader.jtml?Object_ID=545249
HUD Not Enforcing Smith & Wesson Agreement
August 10, 2001
HUD Not Enforcing Smith & Wesson Agreement
The Bush administration is not enforcing a milestone agreement made last
year in which a gunmaker agreed to increase safety efforts in exchange for
being dropped from federal and local government lawsuits, the Wall Street
Journal reported Aug. 1.
Amid much controversy, Smith & Wesson was the only gun manufacturer to
make the agreement with the government.
With a new administration in the White House, officials at Smith & Wesson
said the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the agency
assigned to oversee the agreement, is not following through on the deal.
The company has not had any contact with HUD officials, and it remains
listed as a defendant in many gun lawsuits.
A HUD official acknowledged that the agreement is not being enforced,
explaining that the Bush administration views the Smith & Wesson agreement
as a memorandum of understanding that isn't legally binding for either
side. "HUD is not enforcing it. In fact, HUD is not doing anything with
it," the official said.
From a legal standpoint, Georgetown University law professor Paul
Rothstein explained, "If nobody is enforcing the agreement, that mutes the
impact of the contract immeasurably."
Gun-control advocates said they weren't surprised that the Bush
administration is ignoring the agreement.
Find this article useful? You'll find 35,000 more just like it on Join
Together Online (http://www.jointogether.org). Or, get the news via email.
Subscribe for free at http://www.jointogether.org/jtodirect/ Reproduction
or distribution of this information is encouraged!
Join Together, a project of the Boston University School of Public Health,
is a national resource for communities working to reduce substance abuse
and gun violence. For information, email
[email protected].