Word: chicago
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...light of the lucrative settlements that many states have reached with tobacco companies, it is no surprise that the city of Chicago is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from another societal cancer, the country's leading gun makers. The city has charged them with creating a public hazard by flooding markets with their product and by using lenient standards in distribution control. As a result, prosecutors contend, gun makers have assured that criminals have access to firearms...
...course, Chicago's prosecutors will probably argue that gun makers have contorted both law and morality. They will say that manufacturers have attempted to subvert stringent Chicago gun laws by flooding the markets in states with more lenient statutes such as Florida and Texas. Many economists who have studied gun sales believe that firearms entering those states are then taken to more heavily restricted areas such as Chicago...
...Even if Chicago wins its case, gun makers will still weigh the costs of potential lawsuits against the costs of decreased revenues. The court system will also have difficulty determining who is to blame when criminals gain access to guns...
Even if manufacturers oversupply retailers, it is still hard to fault the makers for the poor judgment of legally licensed gun shop owners. Chicago prosecutors will need to find evidence showing that manufacturers intended to have merchants sell to straw men representing criminals...
...city of Chicago will be successful only if its case reinvigorates the national demand for gun control legislation as the tobacco lawsuits did for non-smoking laws. To win the fight against gun makers and other apparent public threats, regulation must remain a legislative process rather than a judicial one. Alex M. Carter '00 is a history and literature concentrator in Dunster House. His column appears on alternate Mondays...