Cincinnati Approves Motion to Sue Gun Industry

By Ed Somers

On January 27, 1999, the City of Cincinnati, under the leadership of Mayor Roxanne Qualls, approved a motion calling for a suit against "all major handgun manufacturers and the industry trade associations." The Mayor and City Council directed that a suit be drafted which incorporates the legal underpinnings of both the New Orleans, Miami-Dade County and Bridgeport product liability cases, and Chicago's public nuisance case.

Specifically, the motion calls for a suit to:

1) Seek to recover the damages to the City from the handgun manufacturers' sale of guns that fail to incorporate safety designs to prevent their use by children and other unauthorized users.

2) Seek to recover the damage to the City caused by guns that handgun manufacturers, through their design and marketing efforts, massively distribute in a manner that makes them readily available for illegal use in the City of Cincinnati.

3) Use any other basis that may be particularly appropriate for the City of Cincinnati and the State of Ohio.

The lawsuit is now in the process of being researched and drafted by the city's solicitors office.