Measure to limit lawsuits over firearms takes step

CARSON CITY -- Under a measure passed by a Senate panel Wednesday, cities and counties may no longer be allowed to sue gun manufacturers or dealers for damages in connection with injuries or deaths caused by firearms.

Five of seven Senate Judiciary Committee members voted in favor of Assembly Bill 543, which would make the state the only governmental entity in Nevada that is allowed to sue those who make and sell guns for damages related to a shooting.

Assemblyman Don Gustavson, R-Sun Valley, told Senate panelists that the measure is designed to head off what he sees as a disturbing national trend among local governments to blame those who make and sell guns for the crimes committed by people who use guns.

He cited a case in which the city of New Orleans sued 15 gun manufacturers, and another case in which Chicago city officials have filed $433 million in claims against more than a dozen gun salesmen and makers.

"They are claiming that simply by being in the business (gun manufacturers) are creating a public nuisance," Gustavson said of the Chicago case.

No such cases are pending in Nevada, and Gustavson said he hopes none ever will. He compared them to the types of complaints now being filed -- and won -- against tobacco companies by those who have suffered from lung cancer.

"There are suits being put together nationwide with cities going together and suing. This is to prevent everyone from jumping on the bandwagon as they did with the tobacco lawsuits," Gustavson told the panel.

The bill does not prevent individuals from taking legal action in regards to a shooting, and local municipalities can still file legal claims against gun companies or salespeople for breaches of contract or faulty equipment. But the state would be the only governmental agency allowed to sue for reasons related to violence committee with a firearm.

Sen. Terry Care, a Democrat and Las Vegas lawyer, said he doesn't like any law that prohibits litigation, and he objected to Gustavson's comment that such lawsuits were "frivolous."

"I tend to think a lawsuit's not frivolous until a judge says it's frivolous," Care said. "My intention is not to prevent anyone from suing anybody."

Care and Sen. Valerie Wiener, D-Las Vegas, voted against the bill.

Sen. Mark James, a Las Vegas Republican and also a lawyer, said states and individuals have been responsible for most of the suits filed against tobacco companies, and this bill wouldn't protect the gun industry from that.

"And I don't think guns are analogous to cigarettes, James said. "Guns can be used safely. Cigarettes cannot."

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