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Jewish World Review
Nov. 10, 2012/ 24 Tishrei, 5773
Shooting Down the 2nd Amendment, One Lawsuit At a Time
By
Arnold Ahlert
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
It was one of those little stories that most people miss, even more so when it is released during a heated presidential election. But it is one that is critically important because it represents an unprecedented power grab by the one profession that has arguably done more damage to America than any other. If Americans don't demand an end to this nonsense, we have no one to blame but ourselves. The details of the story are both simple and infuriating: a New York appeals court in has ruled that a former high school athlete shot in 2003 can sue--the companies that made and distributed the handgun used to shoot him.
Danny Williams, now 25, was promising high school basketball player who was shot in the stomach while playing hoops in front of his house. As a victim, he deserves nothing but sympathy. Cornell Caldwell, who shot him in a case of mistaken identity, is currently in prison, and deserves to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But the distributor and manufacturer of the gun involved?
The continued pursuit of this case rests on the idea that gun manufacturer, Beemiller, "knew" it was making guns tied to urban street crime, as did the gun distributor, MKS Supply, which was working closely with Beemiller. They "knew" because the gun used to shoot Williams was among some 250 guns purchased at Ohio gun shows by now-convicted gun trafficker James Nigel Bostic. Williams' attorneys contend that gun show dealer Charles Brown, also "had to have known" Bostic was buying guns for illegal purposes.
Attorneys for the gun industry--an ominous phrase that inadvertently reveals the staggering scope of where trial lawyers would like to take the concept of "legal causation"--countered that Brown believed Bostic was planning to open a gun shop. More importantly, Brown followed all the rules set out by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, regulating gun-show sales.
The industry attorneys added two other important details to their argument as well: first, because the gun sales occurred in Ohio, New York State has no legal standing in the case. Second, Beemiller and MKS Supply are insulated from liability by the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. That law was enacted in 2005 and ostensibly protects firearm manufacturers and sellers from being held liable for harm caused by the criminal misuse of their non-defective products.
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That such a law is even necessary is a great indication of where the legal profession would like to take this country. In case you don't know what I mean, ask yourself this: if the gun distributor can be held liable, and then, in turn, the gun manufacturer, why not the company that mined the ore to make the gun? Why not the smelter of that ore, or the state where that ore was taken out of the ground?
And as always in a case involving firearms, partisan politics is also part of the mix. "This important ruling states that gun companies who choose to supply the criminal gun market are not above the law," said Jonathan Lowy, a Brady Center attorney who, along with Buffalo lawyer Terrence Connors, represents Williams. The Brady Center is named after Jim Brady who was seriously wounded when John Hinckley, Jr. attempted to assassinate President Reagan on March 30, 1981. Again, Jim Brady merits the sympathy of a nation. His center's efforts to eviscerate the Second Amendment do not.
In the initial ruling on the case, state Justice Frederick J. Marshall agreed with the gun manufacturers, and dismissed it on May 18, 2011. This ruling overturns that one, but it's not over. "We believe [the lower court ruling dismissing the case] was a courageous and legally correct decision, but the Fourth Department was unwilling to follow his well-reasoned opinion," said Jeffrey Malsch, who represents MKS Supply. "Whether we appeal or not, we are confident that ultimately the facts will contradict the baseless allegations in the complaint, and the case will be dismissed."
That's the small picture. The larger picture is what should deeply concern every American. Nothing has affected this nation more deeply than the "sue everyone" mentality that is rapidly turning virtually any interaction between two human beings into a potentially litigious event. Add the reams of rules and regulations enacted by government at every level to the mix--so much so that the law not only becomes unknown, but unknowable--and the trajectory is clear: we are litigating and regulating our way into a totalitarian strait-jacket.
The solution? It begins with tort reform, but that is only a beginning. Lawyers who would pursue unlimited causation must be sanctioned. Repeat offenders should be disbarred. The alternative is the continued expansion of causality to the point where not only freedom becomes a casualty, but the economic health of the nation as well.
As for this particular case, the long term--and progressive--objective is clear: the Second Amendment can effectively be overturned without having to go through that "messy" process of acquiring the approval of two-thirds of Congress and three-fourths of state legislatures to do so. All we have to do is get enough courts to hold enough gun-makers liable for crimes committed with firearms, and we'll eventually make it impossible for gun manufacturers to remain in business. Make no mistake: that's what these legal termites and their enablers are hard at work trying to do.
And for the very first time since the 2005 law was enacted, a court is letting them do it.
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Previously:
10/01/12: The 'Free Obama Phone Lady' Video Goes Viral
09/24/12: The Lovers' Quarrel Between CNN and the State Department
08/22/12: PC Kills American troops: More than 100 unarmed already murdered by Muslim 'friends'
08/20/12: The PC Insanity Surrounding the Nidal Hasan Trial
08/16/12: Dems Believe Nothing Beats Something
08/14/12: Republicans Roll Over on Debate Moderators
08/08/12: Soc Sec Propaganda: the Left's Greatest Triumph
08/06/12: Harry the Weasel
08/03/12: First They Came For My Chicken Sandwich . . .
07/30/12: Stupidity Sold As Common Sense
07/24/12: Obama's 'You Didn't Build That' Was No Gaffe
07/17/12: LIBOR: Another Symptom of the Same Disease
07/09/12: Dear Mr. Romney
07/02/12: Different Shades of Lipstick on the Same Socialist Pig
06/27/12: We're Going to Do What We Want, and We Dare You to Stop Us
06/25/12: Fast and Furiously Diverting Attention from the Economy
06/20/12: So Much For Stopping the Leaks
06/18/12: Another Feckless Attempt to Change the Conversation
06/12/12: Mr. Obama's Latest Fantasies and Fabrications
06/04/12: Progressivism: An Adolescent Ideology
05/21/12: Drones Against Democracy
05/17/12: Pay Up --- Or Else
05/07/12: A Tale of Two Women
05/01/12: 2012: The Economic Paradox No One Wants to Talk About
04/23/12:2012: A Referendum on Our National Character
04/13/12: Feel This
04/11/12: Teaching Dependency
04/04/12: Network News Shapers
04/02/12: Stabbing Israel in the Back Is More Like It
03/19/12: Gas Pains and Debt Bombs
03/12/12: Israel Under the Bus
03/05/12: Baby Steps Down the Road to Depravity
02/27/12: Debasing Our Military, One Politically Correct Moment After Another
02/20/12: The 'New Normal' of Rampant Illegitimacy
02/13/12: Sandwiches or Freedom?
02/10/12: Progressive Obsolescence
02/06/12: Safeguarding Kids No Match for Following Procedure
01/29/11: 2016: R.I.P. GOP
01/26/11: Obama's Happy Talk Versus Bernanke's Action
01/23/11: South Carolina Goes for the Media-Masher
01/17/11: Nuking the Strait of Hormuz?
01/09/11: Coercion and Incentive Are Not Interchangeable Terms
01/06/11: Will We Retire Obama --- or the Constitution?
01/03/11: Dumb -- or ‘Disabled?’
12/27/11: Islamists ‘Celebrate’ Christmas
12/19/11: A Deficiency of Decency
12/16/11: Better a A War On Whiners Than Christmas
12/12/11: Anybody But Obama
12/07/11: Connecting the Feckless Foreign Policy Dots
12/05/11: Can We Keep Our Republic?
11/28/11: Cyber Crack-heads
11/21/11: Water Water Everywhere, But Not a Drop to Think
11/18/11: Walking along Avenue J(ew)
11/09/11: Military Scandal, Media Blackout
11/09/11: Open-Mics and Closed Minds
11/07/11: Back in the EU--SSR
10/31/11: Camping Out in La-La Land
10/14/11: Bagman Tim
10/13/11: Are Colleges Too Big to Fail?
10/11/11: Why aren't they upset when their child is mugged in school?
10/07/11: I Stand With the ‘One Percenters’
10/03/11: Can We Legalize Assassination?
09/29/11: Tim, Liz and Bev Equals Moe Larry and Curly
09/26/11: No Acknowledgment of Israel? No More Money
09/19/11: ‘Jobbing’ America
09/16/11: Carville knows a few things about ‘crazy’
09/12/11: Contemptible Krugman
09/09/11: Solving the 9/11 Invitation Controversy
09/06/11: Our Progressive Economic Wrecking Crew
09/01/11: Summer Swoon
08/29/11: The Real American Fanatics
08/24/11:The Five Stages of (Progressive) Grief
08/22/11:The Inevitable Descent From Progressivism to Nihilism
08/22/11: Perry Stands Firm. Obama Stands Mute
08/15/11: Give Me a Flatscreen TV, or Give Me Anarchy!
08/11/11: Resign, Mr. President
08/08/11: Facts? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Facts
08/03/11: Manufactured Crises
08/01/11: Stay Healthy, America --- or else!
07/28/11: Existential Crisis, Part 2
07/25/11: Three-Out-of-Four Americans Are Radicals
07/21/11: What Does Two Plus Two Equal?
07/18/11: News Nuggets
07/13/11: The ‘Write Stuff’
07/11/11: Completely Expectable ‘Unexpectedness’
07/07/11: Organized Cheating
07/05/11: Stimulating Disaster
06/30/11: Progressivism Masquerading as Education
06/27/11: America: Greece With Better PR
06/23/11: NBC-ya Later
06/19/11: One Man's Conversation About Race
06/10/11: An Exhibitionist in an Exhibitionist Age
06/07/11: NAACP Betrays Black American Schoolchildren
06/02/11: For the First Time in My Adult Life . . .
05/31/11: If I Were President
05/25/11: California Dreamin'
05/23/11: On Wisconsin!
05/20/11: Obama's Farewell to Israel Speech
05/16/11: ‘Krauthammering’ Amnesty
05/11/11: Bounce, My Backside
05/09/11: The Epicenter of Progressive Contempt for the Rule of Law
05/03/11: SEALing Osama's Fate
05/02/11: The Education plantation
04/24/11: The Bell May Toll for Jersey Toll Collectors
04/19/11: From Medical Dependency to Dependency on the Welfare State
04/14/11: Trumping the Debate
04/06/11: It Takes a Bigot to Expose a Death Cult
04/04/11: Charlie and Snookie --- and Barack
03/30/11: ‘Disabling’ America, One Lawsuit at a Time
03/28/11: The MSM Kills the ‘Kill Team’ Story
03/23/11: Another Military Scandal
03/21/11: Barry, Joe, Helen and Wisconsin Teachers
03/16/11: The Inevitable Viability of Conservatism
03/14/11: Progressives in Their Own Words
03/09/11: $61 Billion in Cuts --- Vs. $223 Billion in One Month of Spending
03/07/11: Bean Bag B.S.
03/02/11: A ‘Green’ Catastrophe in the Making
02/28/11: Ain't Noting Like the Real Thing
02/23/11: Progressive Rot vs. the ROTC
02/21/11: Wisconsin: Progressivism in All its Ugly Glory
02/18/11: News reporters --- or Narrative Shapers?
02/16/11: The Presidents Budget Proposal: An Obamination of Progressive Profligacy
02/14/11: Only Another 9/11 Will Alter the Illegal Immigration Status Quo
02/10/11: Is O'Reilly losing his touch or is he just irresponsible?
02/07/11: Tossing Britain Under the Bus
02/03/11: Starving the World In Order to Save It
01/31/11: Walking the Middle East Tightrope
01/27/11: Small-scale Terrorist Attacks: Big Strategy?
01/24/11: Jeffery Immelt: A Crony Capitalist In Charge of Job Creation
01/20/11: An ‘Intimate’ Prime-time Interview
01/17/11: Progressives: Always Angry, Newly Desperate
01/12/11: Twain vs. the Totalitarians
01/10/11: Politically Correct Passports?
01/05/11: Showdown at the Fiscal Corral
01/03/11: Reading the Constitution Aloud is a Good Start
12/30/10: Getting Our Moral Mojo Back
12/27/10: PC Airport Safety is an Oxymoron
12/23/10: Getting America Back On Track
12/20/10: A Collectivist Coalition of Convenience
12/15/10: The President Who Wasn't There
12/13/10: Tech-No!
12/08/10: A Lethal Military, Inclusive or Not
12/06/10: The ‘Unexpected’ Consequences of Progressivism
12/01/10: Leakers and Losers
11/29/10: ‘We Won’, Part One
11/22/10: Keep Your Hands Off My Constitution
11/17/10: Grope and Change
11/14/10: Taking Back Our Country, One School At a Time
11/11/10: Checks (and Balances), Please
11/08/10: Curtain Up, Progressives Down
11/04/10: Last Chance, Republicans
11/01/10: By Their Own Words Shall Ye Know Them
10/28/10: Progressive Determination to Undermine American Elections
10/25/10: Shock, but more importantly, action: De-Unionize Public Schools now
10/20/10: Multiculturalism? Check, Please
10/18/10: Healthcare: ‘Alice in Wonderland’ vs. The Constitution
10/11/10: Vote for Restoring the Rule of Law in November
10/11/10: Dems: Running From Clarity
10/07/10: Hypersensitive Hogwash
10/04/10: ‘Comprehensive’ Con Artists
09/29/10: Why Dems Are Going Down in November
09/27/10: The Unholiest of Unholy Alliances
09/22/10: Two Words for Republicans to Remember: ‘I Won’
09/20/10: Purging ‘Me First’ Politicians
09/17/10: No More ‘Lesser of Two Evils’
09/15/10: ‘Recovery’ Arms Race
09/13/10: ‘Bigots’ in the Majority --- Again?
09/09/10: Giving Voters Something to Vote For
09/07/10: Irresponsible Dems, Incomprehensible Bills
09/02/10: War Weary Americans vs. Implacable Islamists
08/31/10: A ‘Dream’ Debased
08/25/10: American ‘Bigots’ Versus Media Propagandists
08/23/10: Recovery Bummer
08/19/10: An Unholy Alliance of Radicals
08/16/10: You've Lost America, Mr. President
08/13/10: The Twin Towers of Progressive Disconnect
08/11/10: A Far Better ‘National Discussion’
08/09/10: It's ‘Only’ One Dead Nun
08/06/10: Incremental Tyranny
08/04/10: Ground Zero Mosque: Context Counts
08/02/10: The Arizona Ruling: a Gift for November
07/29/10: The United Cities of America
07/26/10: JournoList: ‘Coordinated’ Ideological Bankruptcy
07/20/10: Go For Broke Or Get Out of the Way
07/14/10: You're a Liberal/Progressive if You Believe…
07/12/10: $33-an-hour--For Sleeping On the Job
07/08/10: Extortionist Government
07/06/10: ‘Commerce Clause’ Totalitarians
07/01/10: Another Public School Travesty in MA
06/30/10: Calling YOUR Bluff, Mr. President
06/28/10: A Trifecta of Progressive Corruption
06/23/10: Plug the Darn Hole --- In Our Border
06/21/10: Our Empty-Suit-in-Chief
06/16/10: Betraying Our Children
06/14/10: Who Gets the Benefit of the Doubt?
06/07/10: Politically Correct Warfare
06/01/10: Bill Maher's ‘Black’ President
05/25/10: A Mosque At Ground Zero
05/23/10: Libs Stand Tall --- For Mexico
05/19/10: The 'Unintended Consequences' of Liberalism
05/17/10: 'Los' Suns: Stuck on Stupido
05/12/10: Union Audacity: Yes We Will!
05/10/10: Greeks, Leaks and and Double-Speak
05/05/10: Twelve Million Illegals --- or Thirty?
05/02/10: Republicans: Playing Not to Lose Doesn't Cut It
04/28/10: Arizona: Progressivism's Waterloo?
04/26/10: Son of Amnesty
04/22/10: Mortgages and Moral Meltdowns
04/20/10: Bashing Christians — Or Gays?
04/15/10: Personal Integri-‘tea’
04/12/10: Fools, Tools and Ghouls
04/08/10: (Tea) Party On
04/05/10: The Triumph of Mediocrity
04/02/10: Two For the Road
03/29/10: The Innate Immorality of Liberalism
03/24/10: The Art of War
03/22/10: I Want My Country Back
03/18/10: A Perpetual Process
03/17/10: American Exhibitionists
03/15/10: A Light Bulb Moment of Clarity
03/10/10: Little Things Mean A Lot
02/03/10: Budgetary Fork in the Road
02/01/10: Liberal Economic Illiteracy
01/27/10: ‘Roe-ing and Wade-ing’ Back to Reason
01/25/10: Arrogance When Up, Denial When Down
01/20/10: Connecting the Educational Dots
01/19/10: The Next Tea Party?
01/15/10: The Myth That Keeps on Giving
01/13/10: Airport Security Begins Away From the Airport
01/11/10: Secrets and Lies
01/08/10: Embracing Bigotry — or Rejecting Bullying?
01/06/10: Hanging by an Ideological Thread
01/04/10: Our ‘Wonderama’ Bureaucracy
12/30/09: A Day Off
12/28/09: Dangerous Myths
12/25/09: I, Me, Mine
12/23/09: A Very Harry Christmas
12/21/09: My Opinon
12/18/09: The Party of Repeal
12/15/09: Privileged Exemption
11/30/09: ‘Settled’ Science and Unsettled Children
11/30/09: American Sharia Law
11/23/09:The Trial (Travesty) of the Century
11/04/09: American Vampires and Their Political Enablers
11/01/09: ‘Opting Out’ of Insanity?
10/28/09: Cell Phones Cause Brain Cancer. Brain Required
10/26/09: Communism: Nazism With Better PR
10/21/09: Just Asking
10/16/09: Cost Projections vs. Actual Costs, or Hope and Change vs. Reality
10/14/09: News you can use …
10/07/09: Incremental Insidiousness
10/05/09: MIA: Common Sense and Common Decency
09/30/09: Iran: Bad Options and Unpreparedness
09/21/09: Crying Racism: the Last Refuge of Scoundrels
09/11/09: 9/11 Cannot Be Sanitized
09/08/09: ‘Truthers’ and Consequences
09/01/09: A ‘Paper Trail’ Challenge for the Mainstream Media
08/31/09: Drowning in Amorality
08/26/09: The Republican Recovery Program
© 2011, Arnold Ahlert
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