How the Law Affects Gun Policy in the United States: Law as Intervention or Obstacle to Prevention

Gostin L.O. , Public Health Law (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000): at 4.

Murphy S.L. , “Deaths: Final Data for 1998,” National Vital Statistics Reports, 48, no. 11 (2000): 1–108.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Nonfatal and Fatal Firearm-Related Injuries — United States, 1993–1997,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 48, no. 45 (1999): 1029–34.

Cook P.J. , “The Medical Costs of Gunshot Injuries in the United States,” JAMA, 282 (1999): 447–54.

See Karlson T.A. and Hargarten S.W. , Reducing Firearm Injury and Death: A Public Health Sourcebook on Guns (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1997); Zakocs R.C. Earp J.L. , and Runyan C.W. , “State Gun Control Advocacy Tactics and Resources,” American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 20 (2001): 251–57.

See generally Robertson L.S. , Injury Epidemiology (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).

Teret S.P. and Wintemute G.J. , “Policies to Prevent Firearm Injuries,” Health Affairs, 12, no. 4 (1993): 96–108, at 101.

18 U.S.C. § 925(d)(3) (2000).

Sherrill R. , The Saturday Night Special (New York: Charterhouse, 1973).

Vernick J.S. Webster D.W. , and Hepburn L.M. , “Effects of Maryland's Law Banning Saturday Night Special Handguns on Crime Guns,” Injury Prevention, 5 (1999): 259–63; Wintemute G.J. , “Weapons of Choice: Previous Criminal History, Later Criminal Activity, and Firearm Preference Among Legally Authorized Young Adult Purchasers of Handguns,” Journal of Trauma, 44 (1998): 155–60.

See Vernick Webster , and Hepburn , supra note 11; Mass. Regs. Code tit. 940, § 16.00; Cal. Penal Code §§ 12125 et seq. (2001).

18 U.S.C. § 922(v)(1) (2000).

See Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms , State Laws and Published Ordinances — Firearms (Washington, D.C.: Department of the Treasury, 1998).

D.C. Code Ann. § 6–2301; Chicago, Ill., Municipal Code § 8-20-050(c)(I)(ii).

Morton Grove, Ill., Ordinance 81–11 (1981).

See infra text under the subheading “Litigation against firearm manufacturers.”

15 U.S.C. § 45 (2000).

Vernick J.S. Teret S.P. , and Webster D.W. , “Regulating Firearm Advertisements That Promise Home Protection,” JAMA, 277 (1997): 1391–97; Petition of Teret Stephen P. and Vernick Jon S. Hopkins Johns Center for Gun Policy and Research, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and Garen J. Wintemute, Violence Prevention Research Program, University of California, Davis, to the United States Federal Trade Commission (Feb. 14, 1996) (on file with authors).

Kellermann A.L. , “Suicide in the Home in Relation to Gun Ownership,” N. Engl. J. Med., 327 (1992): 467–72; Kellermann A.L. , “Gun Ownership as a Risk Factor for Homicide in the Home,” N. Engl. J. Med., 329 (1993): 1084–91.

Consumer Product Safety Commission Improvement Act of 1976, Pub. L. No. 94-284, § 3(e), 90 Stat. 503, 504 (1976); Vernick J.S. and Teret S.P. , “A Public Health Approach to Regulating Firearms as Consumer Products,” University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 148 (2000): 1193–211.

Mass. Regs. Code tit. 940, § 16.00; Vernick J.S. , “‘I Didn't Know the Gun Was Loaded’: An Examination of Two Safety Devices That Can Reduce the Risk of Unintentional Firearm Injuries,” Journal of Public Health Policy, 20 (1999): 427–40 (describing loaded chamber indicators and magazine safeties).

American Shooting Sports Council, Inc. v. Attorney General , 711 N.E. 2d 899 (Mass. 1999).

Md. Ann. Code art. 27, § 442C (2001).

See Teret S.P. , “Making Guns Safer,” Issues in Science and Technology, Summer (1998): 37–40.

18 U.S.C. § 923(a) (2000).

Wintemute G.J. , “The Future of Firearm Violence Prevention: Building on Success,” JAMA, 282 (1999): 475–78 (citing Pierce G.L. and Koper C. , “Tracing Illegal Gun Markets: ATF's Youth Gun Interdiction Initiative.” Paper presented at the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Washington, D.C., November 12, 1998).

See infra text under the subheading “Statutory limits on the authority of CPSC and ATE”.

See Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, supra note 14.

Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 140, § 122 (1991); R.I. Gen. Laws § 11-47-38 (2000).

Gorovitz E. , “Recent Developments in Local Gun Regulation in California,” San Francisco Attorney, 23 (1997): 47.

Montgomery County, Ala., Code § 57–13 (as amended in May of 2001); Becker J. , “Montgomery Sued over Gun Show Restrictions — New Law Called Unconstitutional,” Washington Post, June 23, 2001, at A10.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms , Gun Shows: Brady Checks and Crime Gun Traces (Washington, D.C.: Department of the Treasury, 1999).

See Teret and Wintemute , supra note 8.

Zimring F.E. , “Firearms, Violence and Public Policy,” Scientific American, 265, no. 5 (1991): 48–54.

18 U.S.C. § 922(g) (2000).

18 U.S.C. § 922(s) (2000).

See Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, supra note 14.

Webster D.W. Vernick J.S. , and Hepburn L.M. , “Relationship Between Licensing, Registration, and Other Gun Sales Laws and the Source State of Crime Guns,” Injury Prevention, 7 (2001): 184–89.

Id. See also Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Crime Gun Trace Reports 1999: National Report (Washington, D. C.: Department of the Treasury, 2000).

Cal. Penal Code §§ 12072 (a)(9)(A), (c)(6); Md. Ann. Code art. 27, § 442(a); Va. Code Ann. § 18.2–308.2; S.C. Code Ann. § 23-31-140; Cook P.J. and Cole T.B. , “Strategic Thinking about Gun Markets and Violence,” JAMA, 275 (1996): 1765–67.

Weil D.S. and Knox R. , “Effects of Limiting Handgun Purchases on Interstate Transfer of Firearms,” JAMA, 275 (1996): 1759–61.

Webster D.W. and Starnes M. , “Reexamining the Association Between Child Access Prevention Gun Laws and Unintentional Shooting Deaths of Children,” Pediatrics, 106 (2000): 1466–69; Vernick J.S. and Hepburn L.M. , “Examining State and Federal Gun Laws: Trends for 1970–1999,” in Cook P.J. and Ludwig J. , eds., Evaluating Gun Policy (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, in press).

Fla. Stat. Ann. § 784.05 (2000).

Cummings Compare P. , “State Gun Safe Storage Laws and Child Mortality Due to Firearms,” JAMA, 278 (1997): 1084–86, with Webster and Starnes , supra note 44.

Teret S.P. , “Litigating for the Public's Health,” American Journal of Public Health, 76 (1986): 1027–29.

Teret S.P. and Jacobs M. , “Prevention and Torts: The Role of Litigation in Injury Control,” Law, Medicine & Health Care, 17 (1989): 17–21.

49 C.F.R. § 571.208, S4.1.5.3, S4.2.6.2 (2001).

Daynard R.A. , “Tobacco Litigation: A Mid-Course Review,” Cancer Causes and Control, 12 (2001): 383–86.

American Medical Association, “The Brown and Williamson Documents: Where Do We Go from Here?,” JAMA, 274 (1995): 256–57.

See Teret and Jacobs , supra note 49; Parmet W.E. and Daynard R.A. , “The New Public Health Litigation,” Annual Review of Public Health, 21 (2000): 437–54.

See Parmet and Daynard , supra note 53.

Morial v. Smith & Wesson Corp. , No. 98-18578 (New Orleans Civ. Dist. Ct. filed Oct. 30, 1998). As of August 2002, the thirty-two other cities that have filed suit are Alameda County, California; Atlanta; Berkeley, California; Boston; Bridgeport, Connecticut; Camden City, New Jersey; Camden County, New Jersey; Chicago; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Compton, California; Cook County, Illinois; Detroit; the District of Columbia; East Palo Alto, California; Gary, Indiana; Inglewood, California; Jersey City, New Jersey; Los Angeles; Los Angeles County; Miami-Dade County; Newark; New York; Oakland, California; Philadelphia; Sacramento; San Francisco; San Mateo County, California; St. Louis; Wayne County, Michigan; West Hollywood, California; and Wilmington, Delaware.

City of Chicago v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp. , No. 98 CH 015596, slip op. at 78-82 (Cook County Cir. Ct. filed Mar. 27, 2000).

City of Boston v. Smith & Wesson Corp. , No. SUCV 99-2590, slip op. at 24-25 (Suffolk County Super. Ct. filed Jan. 26, 2000).

City of Camden v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp. , No. L-451099, slip op. at 26-29 (Camden County Super. Ct. filed June 21, 1999).

City of Atlanta v. Smith & Wesson Corp. , No. 99VS0149217, slip op. at 25-26 (Fulton County Ct. filed Feb. 4, 1999); Archer v. Arms Tech., Inc., No. 99-912658, slip op. at 40 (Wayne County Cir. Ct. filed Apr. 26, 1999).

People v. Arcadia Machine & Tool , No. BC210894, slip op. at 41-42 (Sup. Ct. Cal. filed July 16, 1999). By order dated September 15, 2000, the Superior Court of California struck all damage relief. People v. Arcadia Machine & Tool, No. 4095, JCCP (San Diego County Super. Ct. Sept. 15, 2000).

City of Boston v. Smith & Wesson Corp. , No. SUCV 99-2590, slip op. at 31-33 (Suffolk County Super. Ct. filed Jan. 26, 2000); City of Chicago v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp., No. 98 CH 015596, slip op. at 84-87 (Cook County Cir. Ct. filed Mar. 27, 2000).

City of Boston v. Smith & Wesson Corp. , No. SUCV 99-2590, slip op. at 32 (Suffolk County Super. Ct. filed Jan. 26, 2000).

Sills v. Smith & Wesson Corp. , No. 99c-09-283-FSS, slip op. at 27 (Del Super. Ct. filed Sept. 9, 1999).

The ten localities where cases have been dismissed, as of mid-2002 are Sturm, Ruger & Co. v. City of Atlanta, 560 S.E.2d 525 (Ga. Ct. App. 2002); Ganim v. Smith & Wesson Corp., 780 A.2d 98 (Conn. 2001); Camden County Bd. of Chosen Freeholders v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp., 123 F. Supp. 2d 245 (D. N.J. 2000), aff'd, 273 F.3d 536 (3d Cir. 2001); City of Chicago v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp., No. 98 CH 15596 (Cook County Cir. Ct. order dated Sept. 15, 2000); City of Gary v. Smith & Wesson Corp., No. 45D05-005-CT-243 (Lake Super. Ct. order dated Jan. 12, 2001); City of Gary v. Smith & Wesson Corp., No. 45D05-005-CT-243 (Lake Super. Ct. order dated Mar. 13, 2001); Penelas v. Arms Technology, Inc., 778 So. 2d 1042 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2001), review denied, 799 So. 2d 218 (Fla. 2001); Morial v. Smith & Wesson Corp. , 785 So. 2d 1 (La. 2001),cert. denied, 122 S. Ct. 346 (2001); City of Philadelphia v. Beretta U.S.A., Corp., 126 F. Supp. 2d 882 (E.D. Pa. 2000), aff'd, 277 F.3d 415 (3rd Cir. 2002); People v. Sturm, Ruger & Co., No. 402586/00 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. order dated Aug. 10, 2001). Although there are nineteen different cities and counties that have survived, in whole or in part, a motion to dismiss, several cities and counties (including many in California) filed jointly: People v. Arcadia Machine & Tool, No. 4095, JCCP (San Diego County Super. Ct. order dated Sept. 15, 2000); City of Cincinnati v. Beretta USA Corp., 768 N.E. 2d 1136 (Ohio 2002); City of Boston v. Smith & Wesson Corp., No. SUCV 99-2590, 2000 Mass. Super. LEXIS 352 (Suffolk County Super. Ct. order dated July 13, 2000); White v. Smith & Wesson, 97 F. Supp. 2d 816 (N.D. Ohio 2000); Archer v. Arms Technology, Inc., Nos. 99–912658 NZ, 99–912662 NZ (Wayne County Cir. Ct. order dated May 16, 2000); James v. Arcadia Machine & Tool , No. ESX-L-6059-99 (N.J. Super. Ct. Law Div. order dated Dec. 10, 2001); Sills v. Smith & Wesson Corp. , No. 99c-09-283-FSS, 2000 Del. Super. LEXIS 444 (Del. Super. Ct. order dated Dec. 1, 2000).

Archer v. Arms Tech., Inc. , No. 99-912658 NZ (Wayne County Cir. Ct. order dated May 16, 2000).

City of Chicago v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp. , No. 98 CH15596 (Cook County Cir. Ct. order dated Sept. 15, 2000, and transcript of proceedings).

City of Boston v. Smith & Wesson Corp. , No. SUCV 99-2590, 2000 Mass. Super. LEXIS 352 (Suffolk County Super. Ct. order dated July 13, 2000).

White v. Smith & Wesson , 97 F. Supp. 2d 816 (N.D. Ohio 2000).

City of Cincinnati v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp. , No. A9902369, 1999 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 27 (Ct. C.P. Hamilton County order dated Sept. 7, 1999), aff'd, Nos. C-990729, C-990814, C-990815, 2000 Ohio App. LEXIS 3601 (Ohio Ct. App. Aug. 11, 2000).

City of Cincinnati v. Beretta USA Corp. , 768 N.E. 2d 1136 (Ohio 2002).

Id. at 1151; Vernick J.S. and Teret S.P. , “New Courtroom Strategies Regarding Firearms: Tort Litigation Against Firearm Manufacturers and Constitutional Challenges to Gun Laws,” Houston Law Review, 36 (1999): 1713–54.

Hamilton v. Accu-Tek , 62 F. Supp. 2d 802 (E.D.N.Y. 1999).

Id. at 825.

Hamilton v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp. , 222 F.3d 36, 39 (2d Cir. 2000).

Hamilton v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp. , 750 N.E.2d 1055 (N.Y. 2001).

Id. at 1061 (citation omitted).

Id. at 1062.

Hamilton v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp. , 264 F.3d 21 (2d Cir. 2001).

Merrill v. Navegar , 28 P.3d 116 (Cal. 2001).

Id. at 120.

Id. at 121.

Id. at 133–34 (Kennard, J., concurring).

Merrill v. Navegar , 89 Cal. Rptr. 146 (Cal. Ct. App. 1999).

Merrill , 89 Cal. Rptr. at 184.

Merrill , 28 P.3d at 124 (quoting Cal. Civ. Code § 1714.4(a)).

Smith v. Bryco Arms , 33 P.3d 638 (N.M. Ct. App. 2001).

Id. at 642. Plaintiffs also brought a second claim alleging negligence.

Id. at 643.

See, e.g., Koonce v. Quaker Safety Products & Mfg. Co. , 798 F.2d 700, 716 (5th Cir. 1986) (“The absence of adequate warnings or directions may render a product defective and unreasonably dangerous, even if the product has no manufacturing or design defects.”).

See, e.g., Suchomajcz v. Hummel Chem. Co. , 524 F.2d 19 (3d Cir. 1975) (summary judgment in favor of chemical manufacturer improper where manufacturer allegedly knew or had reason to know retailer intended to use its chemicals to make and sell illegal firecracker assembly kits).

See generally Keeton W.P. , Prosser and Keeton on Torts, 5th ed. (St. Paul, Minnesota: West Publishing Co., 1984): at 677–724.

See, e.g., Hymowitz v. Eli Lilly & Co. , 539 N.E.2d 1069, cert. denied, 493 U.S. 944 (1989) (extending market share liability to manufacturers of diethylstilbestrol (DES)).

See, e.g., Washington v. Resolution Trust Corp. , 68 F.3d 935, 939 (5th Cir. 1995) (“The common law of torts, including the concept of duty, evolves in light of the changing conditions and circumstances of society.”).

See, e.g., Golub v. Secretary of Health & Human Services , 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 24858, at *4–5 (Fed. Cir. 2000) (determining whether a vaccine caused an injury “involves ascertaining whether a sequence of cause and effect is logical and legally probable, not medically or scientifically certain”) (quoting Knudsen v. Secretary of Department of Health & Human Services, 35 F.3d. 543, 548–49 (Fed. Cir. 1994) (internal quotations omitted)).

See, e.g., Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists , 476 U.S. 747, 796 (1986) (White, J., dissenting) (“Abortion is a hotly contested moral and political issue.”).

See General Aviation Revitalization Act, 49 U.S.C.S. § 40101 (1994).

See Parmet and Daynard , supra note 53; Jacobson P.D. and Warner K.E. , “Litigation and Public Health Policy Making: The Case of Tobacco Control,” Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 24 (1999): 769–803; Teret and Jacobs , supra note 49.

Settlement Agreement between Smith & Wesson Corporation and the City of Boston and the Boston Public Health Commission (Dec. 11, 2000) (on file with authors).

Henderson T. , Smart Guns Would Put Firepower Only in Hands of Rightful Owners (July 6, 2001), at <http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=1587&section_id=46,51,53>.

U.S. Const. amend. II.

Vernick J.S. , “Public Opinion Polling on Gun Policy,” Health Affairs, 12, no. 4 (1993): 198–208.

See, e.g., Winokur G. and Black D.W. , “Suicide — What Can be Done?,” N. Engl. J. Med., 327 (1992): 490–91; Vernick J.S. , “Suicide — What Can Be Done?” (letter), N. Engl. J. Med., 327 (1992): 1880.

Vernick J.S. and Teret S.P. , “Firearms and Health: The Right to Be Armed with Accurate Information About the Second Amendment,” American Journal of Public Health, 83 (1993): 1773–77.

United States v. Miller , 307 U.S. 174 (1939).

Id. at 178.

See Vernick and Teret , supra note 108.

See, e.g., Halbrook S.P. , “The Jurisprudence of the Second and Fourteenth Amendments,” George Mason University Law Review, 4, no. 1 (1981): 1–69, at 45; Kates D.B. , “Handgun Prohibition and the Original Meaning of the Second Amendment,” Michigan Law Review, 82 (1983): 204–73, at 248.

See Vernick and Teret , supra note 73; United States v. Emerson, 270 F.3d 203 (5th Cir. 2001).

Lewis v. United States , 445 U.S. 55, 65–66 (1980).

United States v. Cruikshank , 92 U.S. 542 (1875); Presser v. Illinois, 116 U.S. 252 (1886).

See, e.g., Quilici v. Village of Morton Grove , 695 F.2d 261 (7th Cir. 1982), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 863 (1983); Vernick and Teret , supra note 108.

Bogus C.T. , ed., “Symposium on the Second Amendment: Fresh Looks,” Chicago-Kent Law Review, 76 (2000): 3–715.

United States v. Emerson , 46 F. Supp. 2d 598 (N.D. Tex. 1999).

Letter from James Jay Baker to John Ashcroft (Apr. 10, 2001) (on file with authors).

Letter from John Ashcroft to James Jay Baker (May 17, 2001) (on file with authors) [hereinafter Ashcroft letter]; Butterfield F. , “Broad View of Gun Rights Is Supported by Ashcroft,” New York Times, May 24, 2001, at A19.

Brief of Amicus Curiae The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence, United States v. Emerson, 270 F.3d 203 (5th Cir. 2001) (No. 99-10331).

United States v. Emerson , 270 F.3d 203 (5th Cir. 2001).

Id. at 261.

Printz v. United States, 521 U.S. 898, 938 (1997) (Thomas, J., concurring).

See Ashcroft letter, supra note 120.

Emerson v. United States, 122 S. Ct. 2362 (2002).

Santana A. and Tucker N. , “Cases Take Aim at District's Gun Law,” Washington Post, June 13, 2002, at A20.

See Vernick and Teret , supra note 73.

Printz v. United States, 511 U.S. 898 (1997); United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549 (1995); Nordyke v. Santa Clara County, 110 F.3d 707 (9th Cir. 1997); Peoples Rights Organization, Inc. v. City of Columbus, 152 F.3d 522 (6th Cir. 1998).

See Vernick and Teret , supra note 73.

See, e.g., State v. Brown , 571 A.2d 816 (Me. 1990); Vernick and Teret , supra note 108.

Teret S.P. DeFrancesco S. , and Bailey L.A. , “Gun Deaths and Home Rule: A Case for Local Regulation of a Local Public Health Problem,” American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 9, suppl. 1 (1993): 44–46.

Wallack L. , “The California Violence Prevention Initiative: Advancing Policy to Ban Saturday Night Specials,” Health Education and Behavior, 16 (1999): 841–58.

Cal. Penal Code §§ 12125 et seq. (2001).

Md. Ann. Code art. 27, § 36H(b)(1) (2000).

Baltimore, Md., City Code, art. 19 § 117A (1983 & Supp. 1993); Md. Ann. Code art. 27, § 36K (2000).

18 U.S.C. § 927 (2000).

Vernick J.S. and Mair J.S. , “State Laws Forbidding Municipalities from Suing the Firearm Industry: Will Firearm Immunity Laws Close the Courthouse Door?,” Journal of Health Care Law and Policy, 4 (2000): 126–16.

Id. at 135–39.

Id. at 139–42.

See Consumer Product Safety Commission Improvement Act of 1976, Pub. L. No. 94-284, § 3(e), 90 Stat. 503, 504 (1976).

Consumer Product Safety Act, 15 U.S.C. § 2051 et seq. (2000).

Annest J.L. , “National Estimates of Non-Fatal Firearm Injuries: Beyond the Tip of the Iceberg,” JAMA, 273 (1995): 1749–54.

Mayer C.E. , “Safety Standards Sought After Gun Locks Fail Test,” Washington Post, February 7, 2001, at A1.

Firearm Owners' Protection Act, P.L. 99–308, 100 Stat. 449 (May 19, 1986).

18 U.S.C. § 926(a)(3) (2000).

18 U.S.C. § 923(g)(1) (2000).

The decline was from 39,595 in 1993 to 30,708 in 1998. Murphy , supra note 2, at 71.

See Teret DeFrancesco , and Bailey , supra note 133.

See Vernick and Mair , supra note 139, at 128.

Sugarmann J. and Rand K. , Cease Fire: A Comprehensive Strategy to Reduce Firearms Violence (Washington, D.C.: Violence Policy Center, 1994).

See Vernick and Teret , supra note 73.