Re: PEACE DOESNT SHOOT PEOPLE GUNS DO

The Majority Leader of the United States Senate yesterday took to the
Senate floor and said Congress should quickly pass the National Rifle
Association's dream legislation to block lawsuits against reckless gun
sellers. The reason speed is essential, according to Senator Frist: The
U.S. firearms industry may collapse, and "the Department of Defense
faces the real prospect of having to outsource sidearms for our
soldiers to foreign manufacturers."

In a time of war, the Senate's Republican leadership would like to
suspend work on defense measures so they can work on the NRA's bill. If
they don't Senator Frist is suggesting, our troops will be unarmed.

"Without this legislation it is probable the American manufacturers of
legal firearms will be faced with a real prospect of going out of
business, ending a critical source of supply for our armed forces, our
police and out citizens," Frist said.

"I am amazed," said Mike Barnes, President of the Brady Campaign to
Prevent Gun Violence. "What a remarkable, unsupportable, incredible
scenario supporters of this legislation have dreamed up. The basic
message they're using is that our soldiers in the field, at any moment
now, are going to be without guns. Any moment now, they're suggesting,
every gun maker in the United States is going out of business. It's
absolutely shameless - the gun lobby's own little yellowcake strategy."

The Defense Department has never stated that they are in danger of
losing military supplies; and there is no evidence that any major
American gun company is in financial trouble, much less financial
problems that would be cured by this special interest giveaway.
Consider these facts:

The only two publicly-held gun companies have filed recent statements
with the Securities and Exchange Commission contradicting the claim
that they are threatened by lawsuits. Smith & Wesson filed a statement
with the SEC on June 29, 2005, stating that "we expect net product
sales for fiscal 2005 to be approximately $124 million, a 5% increase
over the $117.9 million reported for fiscal 2004.
Firearms sales for fiscal 2005 are expected to increase by
approximately 11% over fiscal 2004 levels." In another filing, dated
March 10, 2005, Smith & Wesson wrote, "In the nine months ended January
31, 2005, we incurred $4,535 in defense costs, net of amounts received
from insurance carriers, relative to product liability and municipal
litigation."
Meanwhile, gun manufacturer Sturm, Ruger told the SEC in a March 11,
2005 filing: "[I]t is not probable and is unlikely that litigation,
including punitive damage claims, will have a material adverse effect
on the financial position of the Company."
The level of litigation against gun manufacturers and dealers is
miniscule. From 1993-2003, 57 suits were filed against gun industry
defendants, out of what the State Court Journal published by the
National Center for State Courts estimates is 10 million tort suits.
The aggregate damages paid in tort suits per year is $82.6 billion
[U.S. Tort Costs, 2002 Update, Tillinghast-Towers Perrin, 200 figures],
while damages paid in gun suits each year is $441,800, excluding
unreported confidential settlements.

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Relevant Pages

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