Clinton Administration threatens suit against gun industry

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton Administration, hoping to pressure the gun industry to settle lawsuits filed by a growing number of cities, threatened Wednesday to file suit against gun manufacturers.

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Guns under fire

"We want to do everything we can to keep guns out of the wrong hands," said White House Domestic Policy Adviser Bruce Reed. "We want to press the industry to change the way it does business and to do everything it can to take responsibility for how guns are distributed, for how guns are marketed."

He said the administration prefers that the industry reach a settlement in outstanding lawsuits, but if it doesn't, the administration is prepared to sue on behalf of 3,000 public housing authorities and their three million residents.

"Our first preference is to accelerate the negotiations that have already begun between 28 cities and counties from San Francisco to Miami ... bring those settlement talks to a conclusion, and really get something done here, " Reed said. "If a strong settlement can't be reached, the public housing authorities are prepared to take this to court."

Reed said the Clinton Administration would like to see the gun industry do a number of things, such as stop providing guns to dealers whose guns end up in a large number of crimes and add safety features to firearms.

The administration has been pressing Congress to pass tougher gun control measures, like mandating background checks for gun dealers, but lawmakers have deadlocked on the issue.

Reed said the administration will keep fighting for legislation, and said the threat of a lawsuit is another way of keeping pressure on the gun industry to make changes.

"We want to keep the pressure on Congress to do its part to pass common sense gun legislation. At the same time, we want to do everything we can to protect the residents of public housing," said Reed. "There are 10,000 gun crimes every year in public housing. The taxpayers spend over $1 billion every year in security for public housing, so we want to take steps to protect (tenants), save the taxpayers money and change the way the industry does business."

Gun ownership advocates say that more legislation would be unfair because there are already many laws on the books regulating guns.

The National Rifle Association responded to the threat of a lawsuit by calling it "a frightening holiday greeting from Bill Clinton and Al Gore."

"No lawful industry is safe. Who will they sue next? Automobile makers? The distiller industry? Manufacturers of baseball bats and kitchen knives?" said James J. Baker, executive director of NRA's Institute for Legislative Action. "The vast majority of Americans know that we should hold violent criminals directly responsible for their crimes."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Clinton Administration threatens suit against gun industry

By Kelly Wallace/CNN

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Wednesday, December 8, 1999