SUPPORT JUSTICE FOR GUN VIOLENCE VICTIMS, OPPOSE FEDERAL IMMUNITY FOR THE GUN INDUSTRY!

• Federal immunity denies gun violence victims their legal rights.
  Federal immunity blocks suits filed by individual victims of gun violence seeking to hold the gun industry accountable for irresponsible manufacturing or selling of guns. If a parent loses a child because a gun was not manufactured with a simple and inexpensive child safety device, that parent has no recourse to make sure the same tragedy won't happen to another family. Sweeping federal immunity stops lawsuits filed by victims seeking to hold gun manufacturers and sellers accountable for their role in recklessly marketing and supplying guns to criminals.

• Federal immunity gives manufacturers and sellers special protection from the law.
  No other industry enjoys the special legal protection that President Bush has given to the gun industry. To shield a single industry from legal responsibility is fundamentally unfair. Why protect the gun industry, which produces potentially harmful, unregulated products, when we do not hesitate to hold the alcohol industry or the motor vehicle industry accountable for negligence? Gun industry immunity promotes a dangerous double standard and sends the wrong message about accountability for bad business practices.

• Federal immunity halts progress towards safer guns and greater gun industry accountability.
  Gun manufacturers and sellers were already exempt from federal consumer product safety regulation. The gun lobby made sure that the gun industry was exempted from regulation when the Consumer Product Safety Commission was established in the 1970s. The only other product that enjoys this exemption is tobacco. Teddy bears are more regulated than guns. Now, gun industry immunity has removed the only remaining incentive for gun manufacturers and dealers to ensure that guns do not fall into the wrong hands. The truth is that successful lawsuits were forcing manufacturers and dealers to improve their distribution practices, limiting the supply of illegal firearms to criminals and youth. These suits also resulted in improved safety features, such as internal locks, to prevent unauthorized access to guns.

• Lawsuits are not about bankrupting the gun industry...they seek to make firearms safer and prevent distribution to criminals.
  Victims that have filed lawsuits seek to hold the gun industry accountable for irresponsible business practices that resulted in faulty products, guns in the wrong hands and, in too many cases, the loss of life. A majority of these cases seek some remedy designed to change the way guns are made and sold to help prevent future gun violence tragedies. The gun industry, like every other industry, has an obligation to its consumers and to the public to ensure that their product is manufactured and sold in ways that are safe, legal, and responsible.