NRA Still Packing Heat on Gun Laws

By RONALD COHEN
Gannett News Service
May 21, 2003

NRA President Charlton Heston in May 2001: "I have only five words for you: From my cold dead hands."

WASHINGTON -- It would be wishful thinking to expect that the retirement of "Moses" might diminish -- even marginally -- the fabled clout of the National Rifle Association.

For even without Charlton Heston at the helm, the feared and respected 4 million-member powerhouse Washington lobby is carrying a big stick in two high-profile cases.

The first is the campaign by the NRA to have Congress prevent crime victims from bringing civil suits against gun manufacturers, sellers or importers.

For example, families of victims of last fall's Washington-area snipers could be blocked from suing the dealer in Tacoma, Wash., who supplied the Bushmaster rifle they allegedly used.

Employing its usual impeccable logic, the NRA says the measure is needed to protect innocent companies from people who use their products illegally. Manufacturers and distributors say they risk being put out of business by multimillion-dollar damage settlements.

On May 7, a jury in Oakland, Calif., awarded $50 million in compensatory damages to a child paralyzed in an accidental shooting in 1994. Jurors held a California gun designer, the manufacturer and the distributor partly responsible.

The case was keenly watched by both sides in the gun control debate because it is rare for a jury to blame the manufacturer in a shooting accident. The industry largely has succeeded in past suits by arguing its weapons are legal and perform as intended -- even
when they are not used as intended.

Victoria Ni, an attorney for a public interest group, Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, hoped the verdict would be a wakeup call for the industry "to behave responsibly and create safer products."

But many observers believe the verdict and its stunning damage award is precisely the kind of case that the legislation pending in Congress is aimed at.

The bill, endorsed by President Bush, has passed the House comfortably and has 52 Senate co-sponsors. About the only hope for gun control activists, and it is slim indeed, is for Senate opponents to mount a filibuster and talk it to death.

The second demonstration of renewed NRA muscle was provided by Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, second-ranking House Republican. DeLay reassured his old pals at the NRA that the House would not renew a 10-year ban on military-style assault weapons set to expire in September 2004, two months before the next elections.

Other key Republicans, alarmed by DeLay's promise, reacted quickly. Speaker Dennis Hastert, in a rare split with his House comrade, said GOP leaders have not yet decided on a course of action and he wants to consult with Bush, who is on record supporting renewal of the ban. DeLay's wet kiss to the NRA came just after the Violence Policy Center reported that of the 211 police offers killed between 1998 and 2001, 41 had been slain by assault weapons.

Those awful statistics demonstrate clearly that the ban needs to be extended -- and strengthened. Police groups have been among its most fervent and eloquent supporters.

In addition to these two cases, a new fund-raising appeal by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence accused the NRA of attempting to further water down gun laws by:

• Advocating that gun purchase records be destroyed after 24 hours.
• Lobbying to deny FBI access to gun records for investigative purposes.
• Blocking efforts to establish a national ballistics fingerprinting system.
• Blocking legislation to close a loophole that allows "private"
  sales at gun shows without background checks.
• Pressing for state laws allowing concealed weapons.

The NRA, which zealously guards against any perceived threat to intrude on its sacred "right to bear arms," never has answered satisfactorily why legitimate hunters need 40 rapid-fire bullets from an Uzi or an AK-47 to fell a deer.

Heston, recently forced to resign because of the ravages of Alzheimer's, three years ago accepted a third term as NRA president, with his trademark fighting words:

Gun control zealots would have to pry his weapon "from my cold dead hands."

With elections looming, we'll see whether officials have the guts to engage in some serious finger prying.

-- Write Ron Cohen at ronco55@aol.com