Different views on S.397 Part 3

Next up, CCRKBA:

CCRKBA APPLAUDS HOUSE PASSAGE OF GUN INDUSTRY PROTECTION/TORT REFORM BILL

BELLEVUE, WA – Passage today by the House of Representatives of S. 397 was hailed by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) as an important tort reform accomplishment that will put an end to junk lawsuits against the firearms industry.

"This important legislation will stop the anti-gunners cold in their attempts to bankrupt firearms manufacturers, distributors and retailers," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan M. Gottlieb. "It closes an important loophole through which extremist gun grabbers have been trying to use the courts to crush gun ownership in this country, when they could not get Congress or state legislatures to do their bidding."

"This common sense legislation," added CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron, "is long overdue. It sends a clear signal to the anti-gun lobby that mainstream America has had enough of their attempts to have their political agenda forced on us all by the courts.

"In the past six years, since the first lawsuit was filed by the City of New Orleans," Waldron recalled, "tens of millions of dollars have been spent by the industry defending against these harassment legal actions. That's money that could have been spent on research and development, and safety education efforts."

Noting that none of the dozens of municipal lawsuits so far filed has ultimately prevailed, Gottlieb stated, "It was obvious from the outset that these lawsuits were designed more for generating headlines than helping crime victims. Yet agenda-driven politicians, supported by the anti-gun lobby, kept going to court, and the reason is now clear. They wanted to break American firearms manufacturers, not for the public benefit, but because they simply hate guns. They hate the people who make them, and especially the people who own them.

"For too many years," Gottlieb concluded, "the small, but very shrill gun control lobby has pushed legislation to take our gun rights, and used an all-too-cooperative media to distort the truth about gun owners and the Second Amendment. When that didn't work, they resorted to the courts and a handful of mercenary, politically-motivated attorneys, all in an attempt to destroy a fundamental civil right by financially devastating a perfectly legal industry. Their extremism has been dealt a serious blow, and in the process, an important step toward legal reform has been taken, and American gun owners should thank every member of Congress who voted for this measure."