Bloomberg Loses Appeal in NYC Lawsuit

Just as this issue went to press, a Manhattan-based federal appeals court dismissed what should be the last of the frivolous lawsuits intended to bankrupt the major players in the firearms industry with the cost of their legal defense. Like the other suits previously dismissed, this one, filed by the City of New York, sought to hold manufacturers responsible for the criminal misuse of firearms.

The suit was originally filed by then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in June 2000, and was continued by the city’s current Mayor, billionaire Michael Bloomberg. As you probably know, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, enacted by Congress in 2005, did away with the rash of similar lawsuits filed by anti-gun lawyers on behalf of many major cities and the State of New York. A federal-court judge in Brooklyn, New York, Jack B.

Weinstein, made the unilateral decision that the commerce act was unconstitutional, and allowed New York City’s suit to proceed. It took another three years before Judge Robert J. Miner, writing for the U. S. Court of Appeals, held that the law is indeed constitutional, and that Judge Weinstein misinterpreted the law and erred by not dismissing the case.

Senator John Mc Cain, incidentally, was one of the original supporters of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act; Senators Clinton and Obama voted against passage of the act. Following the ruling by the court, Lawrence G. Keane, senior vice president and general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) said: "Today’s ruling is very gratifying to members of the firearms industry.

In passing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, Congress understood that frivolous lawsuits like New York City’s defied common sense and represented a clear abuse of the judicial system that threatened to bankrupt a responsible and lawabiding industry. The ruling is clearly another major setback for gun-control groups, principally the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which pursued and funded many of the municipal lawsuits against the firearms industry, including the New York City case.

Mayor Bloomberg, however, hasn’t given up the idea that a big-city mayor with a personal agenda can dictate policy for the nation as a whole: He’s also suing a number of out-of-state retailers, claiming that the firearms they sell legally are being used illegally by criminals in New York City. That trial will have started by the time you read this’before Mayor Bloomberg’s old buddy, Judge Weinstein. Need Some Extra Cash?

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