News that the Connecticut Supreme Court permitted nine Connecticut families to sue a gun manufacturer for the Sandy Hook tragedy is not the first time this blame the gun manufacturer strategy has been deployed. We have been here before—gun companies sued for crimes committed with their firearms, plaintiffs hoping to net big settlements, to ban civilian ownership of popular weapons and, with luck, to drive the entire firearms industry out of business.
The earlier barrage was launched with much fanfare in 1998 when New Orleans followed by some 30 other jurisdictions, filed high profile lawsuits. Chicago sued 22 gun manufacturers for $433 million dollars branding the companies “a public nuisance.” Boston's suit claimed the gun companies were marketing an unsafe product and failed to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. On those grounds, the city sued 31 named defendants for millions of dollars, ballooning the sum by including the salaries and even the pensions of Boston police, firemen, and medical personnel. The advertised aim of these suits was to force the companies to make safety modifications, but the ultimate goal was to drive them into bankruptcy. Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo warned the companies they would face “death by a thousand cuts.” Eliot Spitzer, then New York's attorney general, threatened that unless Glock settled the state's claim, “your bankruptcy lawyers will be knocking at your door.”
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