NAACP joins group in opposing gun bill

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) joined the Justice for Gun Victims Tuesday in urging U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL) to oppose a bill that would grant the gun industry special legal protections even if it behaves irresponsibly.

The senators were referring to SB 659.

In Chicago, the groups urged the that bill is particularly important since the city and several Illinois families have pending lawsuits against the gun industry.

Carol Anne Harwell, the NAACP's Illinois State Conference Political Action chairperson, was joined by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-9th), Tom Vandenberk of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence; Khalid Pitts of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence; Mike Forti Deputy Corporation Counsel for the city of Chicago, and Steve Young who is a party to a suit pending against Bryco Arms Corp.

Standing on the side of victims of gun violence who across the nation oppose this bill, Harwell said her organization has filed several lawsuits against gun manufacturers in an effort to reduce the number of guns flooding the streets.

"The other side will tell you that these lawsuits are frivolous attempts to bankrupt an industry; that it is just about trial lawyers looking to hit the `litigation lottery,' none of it is true," she said.

Rather, Harwell said their battle is "about seeking justice... about making the gun industry change its reckless and deadly business practices."

Civil rights leader Furmin Sessoms urged that the U.S. Senate oppose the bill "because it, in essence, grants gun manufacturers greater immunity than governmental bodies enjoy.

"No reasonable person could argue that gun manufacturers have some responsibility for the inherently dangerous assault weapons of mass destruction they produce.

"What this bill does is grants them blanket immunity from suits that no private business should enjoy, and especially in light of the disparate impact these weapons have on minorities especially Blacks who are routinely under-insured and are the victims of these weapons.

"They are more likely to be the victims of these weapons that are sold to the public without proper background checks," said Sessoms.

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