Posted on 03/18/2008 2:47:28 PM PDT by decimon
BETHLEHEM, PA (March 18, 2008)--George Nation, professor of law and business at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., argues in the April issue of the Baylor Law Review that manufacturers of guns should be required to bear vicarious financial liability for the harm suffered by innocent bystanders who have been injured by the criminal use of their products.
"Traditionally, gun manufacturers have escaped responsibility when it comes to the criminal use of their products," says Nation. "The legal system essentially presumes that criminal activity is not to be expected and that manufacturers have no control over the use of their products.”
“But with more than two million handgun-related crimes each year, and some gun advertising clearly aimed at criminal users, this traditional presumption is at odds with reality," he adds.
According to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, 68% of all murders reported to police in 2006 were committed with a firearm. Statistics from The Center for Disease Control sound a similar warning; the center estimated the number of gun-related homicides in the U.S. to be well over 11,000 in 2005.
High courts continue handing down contradictory rulings on the financial liability of gun manufacturers. Just in the past half year, appellate courts in Indiana and Washington, D.C. have handed down opposite decisions involving the reach of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (2005).
In the case of gun manufacturers, at stake is the future of the $2 billion firearms industry. The Second Amendment has come under particular fire this past year and is the focus of a landmark hearing today at the U.S. Supreme Court regarding gun ownership. The court has weighing the issue of gun control in Heller, which pits those that believe the number of lives lost to gun-related violence is a tragic consequence of lax gun-control laws, versus others who claim an individual Constitutional right to own and bear arms.
Nation also says that some level of criminal use is to be expected due to decisions manufacturers make concerning the design, production, marketing and distribution of their firearms.
Why? Cars kill more people if you put it in their rhetoric.
Pinhead alert - old discounted arguement until one day there’s a model of gun that fires itself.
What a total asshat this person is
It isn’t the gun companies fault, it is the stupid morons behind the gun...
Professors should be held responsible for every one of their students that cause any harm to another.
Why stop at the gun manufacturers?
Why not go after metallurgists and foundry operators, while at it?
What about the nitrate mines?
Idiots.
And babies grow up to kill everyone killed by handgun/rifle/car/blunt object/knife/phaser...well you get the picture, so lets sue hospitals with maternity wards.
“Why? Cars kill more people if you put it in their rhetoric”
What about swimming pools? Let’s blame their manufacturers, also.
Why bother posting this BS from a law professor nutjob?
How about chemicals, baseball bats and who knows what else. If the manufacture is responsible ... then the individual never is. But then that’s where their rhetoric is supposed to lead us.
George Nation, professor of law and business at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa, is going to have his panties in a knot when the Supreme Court stuffs it in his face.
Others who should be liable:
And city governments who provide water utilities...they too should be held responsible for every drowning?
*swift kick to the author of this drek's family jewels*
By this logic, car companies should pay my auto insurance.
My county and state should pay for my tires and shocks when they wear out after I drive on their sh1tty, pothole-marked roads.
All toolmakers must pay for injuries people sustain using their tools.
I think we ought to PAY the firearms industries anytime a cop, or law abiding citizen kills a criminal with a firearm. And whoever took the criminal down.
Oops, time to lock up my hammers, crowbars, chainsaws, etc. Certainly wouldn’t want them escaping and committing crimes on their own.
What an idiot!
Guess I’ll melt down all my firearms. They can be particularly heinous if left to their own devices. (Just last week I caught my Ruger P89 running down the road screaming, “I’m gonna kill ‘em all!!”)
Yep. Should auto manufacturers be responsible for anyone's unlawful use (speeding) of a auto which results in injury to someone?
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