White House helping prepare suit against gun makers 8.50 p.m. ET (202 GMT) December 7, 1999 By Anne Gearan, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP)  The White House is helping prepare a class-action suit against gun makers, alleging that guns and how they are marketed have contributed to violence in public housing projects, administration officials said Tuesday.

The class-action lawsuit by some or all of the nation's 3,100 local housing authorities would be patterned on suits filed against the industry by 29 cities and counties, the officials said.

Those suits claim that gun manufacturers have sold defective products or marketed them in ways that increase the likelihood that they will fall into the hands of criminals.

The new legal effort was made known Tuesday and was described by some officials as more of a threat aimed at bringing gun manufacturers to the negotiating table than an effort to take them to court.

The administration hopes the threat of a national lawsuit will force gun makers to agree to end practices such as marketing guns that are impervious to fingerprints.

A negotiated agreement would allow the administration and gun control advocates to claim a victory at a time when Congress has rejected writing into law new firearms restrictions wanted by President Clinton.

"The administration intends to work aggressively to ... try to work to reach a settlement with the industry,'' White House domestic policy adviser Bruce Reed said. "If settlement is not possible, then the public housing authorities are prepared to go forward with their suit.''

Administration officials said the White House and the Department of Housing and Urban Development are helping prepare the suit even though the actual plaintiff would be independent local authorities that run federal housing programs.

The White House and HUD want gun makers to agree to a code of conduct that includes cracking down on disreputable gun dealers and making safer guns.

"The legal theory is the same as the cities have been pursuing  the bottom line is the gun manufacturers have not been properly supervising their distribution channels,'' and otherwise failing to promote safety, a HUD official said.

"It's the traditional liability theory that is applied to every other product  negligence and product liability,'' the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official would not detail any previous outreach to gun makers but said new negotiations were planned.

"The administration and HUD is ready to sue, but our first priority is to change the practice of the industry. We think we should first sit down at the negotiating table,'' the HUD official said.

Some gun makers have declared bankruptcy in the wake of the suits by local governments and others have downsized their product lines and decreased advertising, according to a countersuit.

The suits have had mixed success in the courts. A judge dismissed Cincinnati's suit in October but another judge had allowed Atlanta's suit to proceed and ordered the industry to open its files.

comments@newsdigital.com ) 1999, News America Digital Publishing, Inc. d/b/a Fox News Online. All rights reserved. Fox News is a registered trademark of 20th Century Fox Film Corp. ) 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

-- Jack (mercer@usa.net), December 07, 1999

Answers

OOOPS....Forgot the link:

http://www.foxnews.com/js_index.sml?content=/news/wires2/index.sml

-- Jack (mercer@usa.net), December 07, 1999.

I hope ALL democrats die in Y2K.

-- goldbug (goldbug@mint.com), December 07, 1999.

Funny, when I worked at John's Hopkins driving through Baltimore was nearly possible with eyes closed, because certain neighborhoods were anounced by the sound of gunfire. Yet to date I have never ever seen a single advertisement for a firearm. Hmm.

-- Hokie (nn@va.com), December 07, 1999.

Goldbug....

And that, my friend, qualifies you as one utter and complete asshole......

There are good people who are Republicans, good people who are Democrats and good people who can't stand either partys policies.....

However wishing anyone dead speaks far more about you than them!

-- Craig (craig@ccinet.ab.ca), December 07, 1999.

Why am I not surprised? It's a clean shot at gun control. They won't tell you what you can own. They will put the manufacturers out of business. Can't get away with it? Better take a look at tobacco and what happened there before you decide they won't win.

Methinks there are TOO many lawyers in this country and TOO many people who want a free ride away from their own responsibilities. I think we all need to take a breath and ask our selves if we know (in the immoral words of our President) "What the meaning of is, is?".

This is what happens when the people don't vote.

-- (...@.......), December 07, 1999.

Craig:

I'm sorry to disagree with you. He didn't say Democrats, he said democrats. I believe that he prefers a Facist dicatatorship. Small but important distinction.

Best wishes,,,,

Z

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), December 07, 1999.

People kill, it takes someone to PULL the trigger. Big Mac's kill. Will they be next, Mr. President? Cars kill. Will they be next, Mr. President? Drowning kills. Will Pools be next, Mr. President? Hotdogs kill. Will they be next, Mr. President? The American public is NOT as stupid as you think, Mr. President! Oh yeah, bodily fluids kill also Mr. President, would YOU, like to outlaw THAT to ?

-- FLAME AWAY (BLehman202@aol.com), December 07, 1999.

well well.... looks like Al Cuppet is right again

why am I not surprised?...

-- matt (whome@somewhere.nz), December 07, 1999.

Why is it that we can child-proof everything from drugs to cigar lighters, but have never engineered a child-proof gun? Why would anyone want to make a gun that would conceal finger prints? Why would anyone want to make a gun with so little metal that it may be carried through airport metal dectors? Why do we have to put up with topics that have nothing to do with Y2K? Let's face it, this legal action will never see the light of day. Y2K is weeks (not years, not even months) away!

Sincerely,

-- Uhhmm.. (JFCP81A@aol.com), December 07, 1999.

Just got back from the gun store and one of the guys working there told me that as of late Jan/early Feb GLOCK is getting out of the civilian gun market to avoid liability. He got this from someone who works at Glock. Better get them while you can folks...

Btw, in case you're wondering who's next, it's going to be auto makers for producing cars that can go faster than 65 mph. Someone dies in a crash at 66 mph and it will be the auto makers fault. Mark my words...

-TECH32-

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), December 07, 1999.

Goldbug, be prepared for Y2K Pro to throw that quote back in your face for some time to come. Its a nasty habit of his. Pro must just be a peach to live with.

-- smfdoc (smfdoc@aol.com), December 07, 1999.

The reason the gun makers don't make them child proof is simple- economics. If they would make them child proof, then the "chemtrail" folks, the "government's gonna get us" folks, and the "garsh damn-it, I'm mad as hell and I ain't fool'in" croud would not be able to use them.

-- for real (for@real.com), December 07, 1999.

JFCP81A

Ignorance makes for interesting arguments.

There are no guns capable of concealing fingerprints. There are no guns capable of passsing through an airport metal detector, without being detected. Child proofing guns begs the question as children are not the problem.

These comments are false, but are often touted by anti-gun organizations as fact. This is the reason that there has not been nor will there ever be Congressional action on gun registration or confiscation; the anti-gun propaganda can be served up to the public through the socialist media, but gun owner organizations make sure that Senators and Representatives get the facts before any vote.

People who are ignorant about guns may always express an opinion, but until they decide to try to learn something before trying to make laws, we shall never have good public policy, and people in HUD housing will continue to suffer from criminals using guns.

-- Bullit Bob (Kapow@got.ya), December 07, 1999.

I bought two guns today for $1. And two bottles of pepper sauce for ammo... Take that, you bad boys!

-- Mara (MaraWayne@aol.com), December 08, 1999.

From the wires:

VEGHEL, Netherlands, Dec 7 (Reuters) - A student, said by classmates to be angry over a failed romance, shot and wounded four people at his school on Tuesday in the first such shooting rampage in the Netherlands.

The 17-year-old sprayed bullets in a hallway and classroom of a secondary school in Veghel, in the south of the country, wounding a woman teacher and three male pupils.

Shootings are very rare in the Netherlands and are normally confined to the criminal underworld and the drugs trade. Gun laws are strict.

-end-

Interesting how effective strict gun laws are when people choose to ignore them.

-- Buster (BustrCollins@aol.com), December 08, 1999.

In the U.S., more people smoke than voted for Bill Clinton.

-- snooze button (alarmclock_2000@yahoo.com), December 08, 1999.

A lot of people drown in lakes and rivers every year.

Maybe we need a federal law or class action lawsuit to drain the swamps.

-- snooze button (alarmclock_2000@yahoo.com), December 08, 1999.

-- xx (xx@xx.xx), December 08, 1999.

Further to the Netherlands story:

"Violence is not unheard of at Dutch schools, but previous incidents, though sometimes fatal, have been confined to knives."

When are we going to start dealing with the disease and not the symptom? The real problem is why do these kids want to kill and maim, not the legal and responsibile availability of guns. Instead, we want to punish 80 million US gun owners because of 5 school shootings (1998).

-- frank (frank@me.com), December 08, 1999.

People have to BLAME and evil tangible something. Its the availablity of Guns that make people violent. Its the availablity of drugs that make people drug addicts. Until we realize that only through understanding the root causes, and treating the root causes for violence and drug abuse (et. al.,) will we find a "cure" and fix the "problem"

-- imho (karlacalif@aol.com), December 08, 1999.

"alleging that guns and how they are marketed have contributed to violence in public housing projects, administration officials said Tuesday."

Out here in the country I here shooting almost everyday and no one is shooting at people. The above statement is just another in a series of misleading, deceptive, LIES.

IMO the problem is public housing and the people attracted to it (excluding the good people there) and not the guns. If public housing is to be offered it should be restricted to the helpless. Not able bodied men. And by helpless I include women who have been abandoned by fathers. "Widows and orphans."

-- Mark Hillyard (foster@inreach.com), December 08, 1999.

More children die each year from getting stuck in 5 gal buckets and drowning than by guns.

More children die each year from getting into parked cars and rolling into a crash than from guns.

It is only "for the children" when it helps some ones power trip.

-- tree (thetrees@bigfoot.com), December 08, 1999.

Me thinks the gun manufacturers brought this on themselves. Long term planning by the gun industry should have seen this coming years ago. Perhaps if they had, as an idustry, "self policed" themselves and implemented a more controlled distribution method, they wouldn't have this problem. Instead, greed and infighting have left them vulnerable.

I know, they sell a legal product blah blah blah..... Well, it is a very UNIQUE legal product.

-- not feeling (sorry@all.com), December 08, 1999.

"Why would anyone want to make a gun with so little metal that it may be carried through airport metal dectors?"

I've never seen such a thing, just Democrat HCI limpwrist spin (LIES). A Glock has a polymer receiver, but it also has a steel barrel and slide, very detectable by metal detectors.

-- Powder (powder@keg.com), December 08, 1999.

It's the gun mfgs. own fault. If they had established a gun lobby and PAC that could funnel millions of dollars into the administrations coffers and war chests (funny choice of words) they would be upstanding Amerikans like the rest of them. Just kidding...one way or another, this country will be disarmed; then our gov. (controlled by the banks) can take it all, people included. Klintoon kills (body count) - FBI/BATF loves to kill (Ruby Ridge, Waco, OKC). We the People need a class action suit.

-- Give Up the Gunzor (UllBnext@capinyerass.MIB.com), December 08, 1999.

Goldbug. See, I told you so.

-- smfdoc (smfdoc@aol.com), December 08, 1999.