January 20, 2000
Mayor Williams Announces District's Lawsuit Against Gun Industry
Lawsuit Seeks Financial Compensation and Changes in Distribution Practices
(Washington, D.C.) Mayor Anthony A. Williams today announced the District's lawsuit against the gun industry during a press conference at One Judiciary Square. The suit was filed today on behalf of the District and Bryant Lawson, a quadriplegic shooting victim who was shot nearly three years ago.
"This gun lawsuit will protect our citizens and our children from the dangers of gun violence, by demanding that gun manufacturers change their practices and by financially punishing them for past negligence," said the Mayor.
The District's lawsuit is the first "state" case against the gun industry. Like other states, the District has statutory authority to recover Medicaid expenses resulting from industry misconduct. Fifty states and the District used this authority to sue the tobacco industry.
The case seeks not only financial compensation for costs incurred by the District as a result of gun violence, but also seeks changes in the gun industries distribution practices. The District will seek to recover damages for governmental health care expenditures that can be attributed to gunshot injuries, including Medicaid expenses, unreimbursed costs of services provided by D.C. General Hospital and other District facilities, and costs of providing healthcare for injured police officers.
"By bringing lawsuits that seek to hold gun manufacturers financially responsible for the costs that their products impose on the public, the District and other governmental plaintiffs can provide the industry with a powerful incentive to reform its distribution practices," said the Mayor.
The main claim in the suit pertains to the Strict Liability Act of 1990, which makes manufacturers of automatic and many semi-automatic firearms strictly liable for injuries and deaths that result from the use of their firearms in the District. In addition to alleging strict liability, the District alleges that the gun industry's negligent and reckless distribution practices have allowed firearms to flow unlawfully into the District, thereby undermining the District's stringent gun control laws. The District also alleges that the ready availability of handguns, and other high-capacity automatic and semi-automatic firearms, for unlawful possession in the District is a public nuisance for which the gun industry is responsible.
Twenty-three gun manufacturers and two gun distributors are named in the suit.
The Mayor was joined by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, several members of the D.C. City Council including Council Chair Linda Cropp, Jim Graham, Jack Evans, Kevin Chavous Charlene Drew Jarvis, Sandy Allen, Sharon Ambrose; Robert Rigsby, Corporation Counsel, Roderic Boggs, Washington Lawyer's Committee; and Dennis Henigan, Director, Legal Action Project, Center To Prevent Handgun Violence.
