Working to Reduce Gun Violence Since 1993

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release                                                                 Contact:  Andy Pelosi (212) 679-2345

July 27, 2005                                                                                                               

U.S. SENATE LEADERSHIP YIELDS TO GUN LOBBY PRESSURE AGAIN BY PROTECTING GUN INDUSTRY AHEAD OF PROTECTING AMERICAN TROOPS

(New York, NY):  In an astonishingly irresponsible maneuver, US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) stopped floor debate yesterday on a crucial Defense Department authorization bill in order to allow immediate consideration of the pet project of the gun lobby, S.397, a bill to grant nearly wholesale immunity from civil liability to gun manufacturers, distributors and dealers.  S.397 would also lessen the ability of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to discipline reckless gun dealers. 

Andy Pelosi, executive director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence said: “Does the gun lobby have no shame?  Forcing its pawns in the US Senate to move legislation that would allow gun makers, distributors and dealers to act recklessly without consequence in front of a Defense Department authorization bill that is crucial to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is the height of arrogance and irresponsibility, especially in a time of war.  Clearly, the gun lobby owns the Senate leadership and is willing to use its power to get whatever it wants, no matter how contrary to the interests of American citizens and its soldiers.”

Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) also said: "The Senate should be embarrassed that we have done this. This is a week that the Republican leadership will never be able to explain--that they would leave that bill in the midst of a war in order to do this grand favor for the gun lobby, the National Rifle Association. It is not fair. It is not fair that all we do around here is carve out special treatment and special exceptions for a lot of people who, frankly, don't need them. "

Pelosi continued: “The fact that the Senate is about to pass a bill protecting gun dealers from civil liability is particularly ironic and bizarre, given the news this week that an Ohio gun dealer 

settled lawsuits against it for recklessly and negligently selling guns to a straw buyer that were used to kill five people in the infamous Queens, NY “Wendy’s Massacre” in 2000.  Such 

settlements, and this was only one of a growing string, put the lie to the gun lobby’s claims of an industry plagued by only frivolous suits.”

See report on gun suit settlement at:  

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/331562p-283337c.html

About New Yorkers Against Gun Violence

New Yorkers Against Gun Violence is New York State’s leading grassroots organization committed to reducing gun violence in our communities through advocacy and education. www.nyagv.org

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