The following article has been re-posted by permission
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Boge Quinn
House Passes Gun Manufacturers
Protection Bill
Jason Barnes, NewsMax.com
Thursday, Oct. 20, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. House of Representatives Thursday
passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act by a vote of 283
to 144.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) strongly supported
the bill.
Only four Republicans voted against the bill designed
to protect manufacturers and sellers of firearms from lawsuits arising
out of the criminal acts of third parties. Fifty-nine of 199 Democrats
also voted for the measure, which included a provision mandating that
gun manufacturers and sellers provide gun purchasers with a secure gun
storage or safety device.
"Freedom, truth, and justice prevailed," said
NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre upon the bill's passing.
"No other industry is forced to defend themselves when a violent
criminal they do not know, have never met and cannot control, misuses
a legal non-defective product. American firearms manufacturers will now
receive the same fair treatment."
Not all gun advocates agree. Larry Pratt is the
Executive Director of Gun Owners of America, an organization billing
itself as the "only no-compromise gun lobby in Washington."
Pratt believes the bill is a mistake because of the clause requiring mandated
safety devices.
"With a pro-gun Congress," Pratt says, "it's
not worth it to do anything that ends up having something anti-gun. It's
just unnecessary." Pratt was joined in opposition by the pro-gun
control Brady Center.
Denis Hennigan, Director of the Brady Center's
Legal Action Project, promises to challenge the constitutionality of the
bill.
"The Congress can pass it. The President can sign
it," Hennigan says, "But this shameful law will not stand. [This]
bill is an unprecedented attack on the due process rights of victims injured
by the misconduct of an industry that seeks to escape the legal rules
that govern the rest of the country."
Representative Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., one of the
bill's sponsors, said Henigan's comments are precisely what is wrong with
the current legal environment.
"These folks," Stearn told NewsMax earlier this
week, "have failed in the legislative process and so now they're
abusing the judicial process to achieve their goals by suing the gun manufacturers
rather than going after the violent criminals."
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