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Whereas, Nearly 30,000 Americans and over 100 Allegheny County citizens will die from gun violence this year; and
Whereas, Gun manufacturers and sellers are already exempt from federal consumer product safety regulation; and
Whereas, Congress has proposed legislation, S.659, S.1805 and S.1806, which would take away the rights of gun victims by prohibiting qualified civil liability actions from being brought by the Federal Government, States, municipalities, private interest groups and individuals in any Federal or State court; and
Whereas, manufacturers of every product are subject to some form of liability and exempting gun manufacturers from any liability would be unprecedented; and
Whereas, The proposed federal legislation would deny the legal rights of current and future gun violence victims seeking to hold the gun industry accountable for irresponsible manufacturing and selling practices by giving an extraordinary special immunity from lawsuits to gun sellers; and
Whereas, Such legislation puts American law enforcement officers in danger by promoting reckless gun sales practices and strategies; and
Whereas, The NAACP's pending case against the gun industry alleging that negligent marketing practices by gun manufacturers and distributors fuel street violence that victimizes minorities and that gun makers knowingly sell their products to corrupt dealers who supply criminals would be made invalid by the proposed legislation; and
Whereas, African American males aged 15 to 24 represent less than one percent of the population of Allegheny County and sustained 37 percent of all firearm injuries; and
Whereas, Nearly 30 suits against the gun industry across the country contend that some manufacturers' firearms are used in crimes so frequently that their sales strategies amount to a violation of the public's safety and peace, to which the marketing director of TEC-9 manufacturer Navegar, Inc. replied (as he did to a New Yo...
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