PRESS RELEASE                                                 Contact: Andy Pelosi 212-679-2345

(NY, NY): NYAGV joined other gun control advocates and Councilman David Yassky to ask Congress not to give special treatment to the gun industry. H.R.1036 and S.659 would grant immunity from virtually all lawsuits to gun manufacturers, distributors and dealers. H.R. 1036 was passed by the House Judiciary Committee almost along party lines last week and will move to a possible floor vote this week. Advocates are calling on members of Congress to vote ‘No" on this bill. Why should an industry which makes a product that kills nearly 30,000 people in this country every year be granted special immunity from lawsuits which no other industry has?

Already guns are one of only two products exempt from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. (Tobacco is the other product) Hence, gun manufacturers are exempt from federal oversight of the design and safety of their products and federal regulation of the lethality of their products. Gun manufacturers have not had to put safety features in their guns such as load indicators or magazine disconnects. They have not had to provide locking devices with guns or try to build locking devices into the gun. Many of these features would help prevent accidents when children find guns. Just this week on Long Island a 14-year-old was killed when his friend did not realize a gun was loaded. Instead of designing safer guns, many gun manufacturers have designed more and more lethal weapons, even 50 caliber ones which can shoot two miles. . Some manufacturers have even gotten around the federal assault weapons ban by slightly modifying guns and creating copy cat models of banned guns, which they cynically name AB or after ban guns.

Furthermore, gun manufacturers, distributors and dealers have felt no pressure to control the distribution of their product, to ensure practices which keep their product out of the hands of criminals and young people. They have not made sure that employees at gun stores are properly trained. Manufacturers and distributors have not used crime gun tracing data to make sure they are not selling to corrupt dealers. They have not worked to ensure that all guns are sold with proper background checks.

All industries need incentives to improve their practices and the safety of their products. It has been an American tradition that often that incentive comes from the threat of litigation. Lawsuits have resulted in safer cars with seatbelts and airbags. We need the possibility of lawsuits to provide incentives to the gun industry to build in safety features and monitor distribution of their products, especially in the absence of regulated consumer safety standards. We urge Congress to just say NO to special treatment for the gun industry.

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