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COURIER L 14 IFE, AUG. 28-SEPT. 3, 2020
Bill aims to hold
gun manufacturers
accountable
BY BEN VERDE
Amid a troubling
spike in gun violence
throughout the borough,
central Brooklyn
State Sen. Zellnor Myrie
has proposed a law that
would hold gun manufacturers
and dealers accountable
for shooting
deaths.
“While communities
of color have died disproportionately
from gun
violence and COVID-19
over the past fi ve months,
gun manufacturers have
seen their profi ts soar,”
the freshman legislator
said in a statement.
“Something isn’t right
with that equation.”
The legislation would
amend the New York
State criminal nuisance
law to include gun manufacturers
and sellers
— making it illegal for
them to “create or maintain
a condition which
endangers the safety or
health of a considerable
number of persons.”
Myrie’s proposal
would allow private citizens
or government entities
to sue any company
that violates the statute.
Similar actions were
taken against lead paint
manufacturers in California
when a number of
counties and cities sued
in 2000, and by the families
of the victims of the
Sandy Hook massacre,
who were allowed by the
Supreme Court to sue
gun manufacturers.
A federal law on
the books since 2005 —
dubbed the Protection
of Lawful Commerce in
Arms Act — currently
works to shield arms
manufacturers and dealers
from liability when
their products are responsible
for death and
violence. The law, however,
does not protect
manufacturers who
knowingly violate state
laws meant to regulate
the arms industry.
New York has tried to
challenge the fi rearms
industry with the criminal
nuisance law before
— including in 2008,
when the state won a suit
State Sen. Zellnor Myrie.
Photo by Ben Verde
against the gun manufacturer
Beretta, but the
ruling was overturned
on appeal when a federal
court ruled that the existing
law was too broad
to be applied to weapons
manufacturers.
Myrie’s bill aims to add
more specifi city to the existing
law in order for it to
be applied more broadly.
The proposed law
comes as gun violence
in Brooklyn continues
to rise, with parts of Myrie’s
district in Crown
Heights, Prospect Lefferts
Gardens, and Flatbush
faring the worst.
City data shows shootings
are up 117 percent
in patrol borough Brooklyn
South, and up 96 percent
in Brooklyn North.
Crown Heights’ 77th Precinct
has seen 40 shootings
so far in 2020, compared
to just 16 on the
same date in 2019.
Local leaders have
suggested multiple factors
are responsible for
the rise in violence, including
a lack of economic
opportunity and
warring gang factions,
while some have sought
to target the “iron pipeline”
by which guns are
purchased legally out of
state and smuggled into
the city.
“Just as we held paint
manufacturers accountable
for lead poisoning.
and tobacco companies
accountable for irreparable
damage to the
nation’s health, so too
should we begin the discussion
of holding gun
manufacturers, sellers,
and dealers accountable
for the scourge of gun violence,”
said Myrie.
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