Anyone who believes that the Second Amendment guarantees Americans
                  the right of gun ownership surely will not argue that Americans also have
                  the legal right to sue any industry, including the gun industry, for practices
                  that lead to injury or death. But this latter right is being threatened in
                  Congress by two bills that offer textbook examples of special interest
                  legislation.

                  On April 9, 2003, the House of Representatives, including Fletcher, Rogers
                  Northup, Lucas, Whitfield, and Lewis, passed a bill granting the gun
                  industry nationwide immunity from lawsuits. The Senate is expected to
                  consider a similar bill before the end of the month, and if passed and signed
                  into law, gun dealers and gun makers would become the first industry in the
                  nation to be protected from lawsuits.

                  The legislation came about because an increasing number of gun victims
                  and their families are going after irresponsible gun dealers and gun
                  manufacturers who don't care what happens to their weapons after they
                  are sold. Not surprisingly the National Rifle Association, rather than
                  advocate reform measures, pulled the Republican Party out of its pocket
                  and directed it to pass legislation protecting the industry from its
                  transgressions.

                  Thirty cities, including Cleveland and Cincinnati, have brought lawsuits
                  against the gun industry, and Chicago, Detroit and New York are planning
                  to do so. These suits would disappear if this federal legislation is passed.
                  (Offering the latest example of how the "anti-big government" Republican
                  Party turns to big government whenever it suits its purposes.) Dozens of
                  individuals would lose their right to sue. A suit brought against a gun dealer
                  by two New Jersey police officers wounded by James Gray, a convicted gun
                  trafficker, would be thrown out. In full view of the gun dealer, Mr. Gray
                  pointed out 12 guns he wanted to buy and handed thousands of dollars in
                  cash to an accomplice, who was able to purchase the guns because he
                  didn't have a record.

                  The legislation passed the GOP-dominated House easily and has 52
                  sponsors in the Senate, thanks to a couple of Democratic defectors. That is
                  not enough votes, however, to prevent a filibuster, which should be
                  employed to keep this legislation off the desk of President Bush, who will
                  certainly sign it.

                  A nation awash in guns, where 80 Americans are killed daily by guns, should
                  do whatever it can to make sure gun dealers and manufacturers behave
                  responsibly and obey the law. Beyond that, anyone who opposes
                  sweetheart legislation designed to protect a politically connected industry,
                  and anyone who is appalled by the frightening spectacle of big government
                  depriving the individual citizen of his or her rights under the law, should
                  oppose passage of this bill.