The lawsuit by the city of Chicago against the gun dealers was dismissed!
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A judge on Friday dismissed Chicago's lawsuit against the gun industry, ruling the city did not make its case that gun manufacturers, distributors and dealers knowingly flood the city with handguns.
The ruling by Judge Stephen Schiller of Cook County Circuit Court will have little impact on the lawsuits filed by some 30 cities against the gun industry because it focused on the Illinois state law governing so-called nuisance suits, a city spokeswoman said.
Chicago's 1998 suit blamed gun manufacturers, distributors and dealers ringing the city for endangering the health and welfare of residents in the city, which has extremely strict gun laws.
The suit demanded $433 million in damages to recoup the costs of urban gun violence, including expenses by police, medical units and other municipal agencies.
Schiller said the city relied too much on statistical data governing gun sales and suggested that police and prosecutors
could adequately address the problem of weapons sold in suburban gun shops.
Earlier this year, Schiller tossed out the ``negligent entrustment'' element of the Chicago suit, which charged the industry with putting guns into the hands of buyers they knew or should have known would misuse them. In support of the action, Chicago undercover police had videotaped gun sales in which
officers posed as gang members or made clear they would resell the guns.Chicago's strict gun control law passed nearly two decades ago allows for handgun ownership only if the
weapon's registration predated the law.
The city will likely appeal the judge's ruling, the spokeswoman said.
Chicago was the second U.S. city after New Orleans to file suit against the gun industry, but none have yet come to trial.
At least eight states have passed laws barring such municipal lawsuits against the industry.
However, a Brooklyn, New York, jury has held handgun makers legally responsible for crimes committed with their guns, awarding more than $500,000 to a teenager severely wounded in a
1995 attack.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has also sued the gun industry in Brooklyn federal court.
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From Netscape.com
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A judge on Friday dismissed Chicago's lawsuit against the gun industry, ruling the city did not make its case that gun manufacturers, distributors and dealers knowingly flood the city with handguns.
The ruling by Judge Stephen Schiller of Cook County Circuit Court will have little impact on the lawsuits filed by some 30 cities against the gun industry because it focused on the Illinois state law governing so-called nuisance suits, a city spokeswoman said.
Chicago's 1998 suit blamed gun manufacturers, distributors and dealers ringing the city for endangering the health and welfare of residents in the city, which has extremely strict gun laws.
The suit demanded $433 million in damages to recoup the costs of urban gun violence, including expenses by police, medical units and other municipal agencies.
Schiller said the city relied too much on statistical data governing gun sales and suggested that police and prosecutors
could adequately address the problem of weapons sold in suburban gun shops.
Earlier this year, Schiller tossed out the ``negligent entrustment'' element of the Chicago suit, which charged the industry with putting guns into the hands of buyers they knew or should have known would misuse them. In support of the action, Chicago undercover police had videotaped gun sales in which
officers posed as gang members or made clear they would resell the guns.Chicago's strict gun control law passed nearly two decades ago allows for handgun ownership only if the
weapon's registration predated the law.
The city will likely appeal the judge's ruling, the spokeswoman said.
Chicago was the second U.S. city after New Orleans to file suit against the gun industry, but none have yet come to trial.
At least eight states have passed laws barring such municipal lawsuits against the industry.
However, a Brooklyn, New York, jury has held handgun makers legally responsible for crimes committed with their guns, awarding more than $500,000 to a teenager severely wounded in a
1995 attack.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has also sued the gun industry in Brooklyn federal court.
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From Netscape.com