FEATURE STORIES

Court Approves Landmark $1 Million Settlement Against Gun Dealer In Attack On Police Officers
June 23, 2004

Charleston, WV - In a landmark lawsuit, a West Virginia court has approved a settlement requiring a gun dealer to pay $1 million in damages to two former Orange, New Jersey police officers who were shot and almost killed by an armed robber with a gun the dealer supplied to a criminal gun trafficker.

The case would have been ended with no recovery by the police officers if Congress had approved National Rifle Association-supported legislation granting sweeping special legal protections to gun sellers - legislation that had passed the U.S. House of Representatives, but was defeated in the U.S. Senate in March. Officers Kenneth McGuire and David Lemongello had their police careers ended by a January 2001 shootout. The case is the first in the nation in which a gun dealer has paid damages for negligently supplying guns to a gun trafficker who in turn sold them into the illegal market.

• Click here to read the press release.

Brady Center Hails Rhode Island Supreme Court Ruling Upholding Law Restricting Carrying Of Concealed Weapons
June 14, 2004

Washington, DC - The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence hailed the 4-1 ruling on June 10, 2004, by the Supreme Court of Rhode Island in Mosby v. McAteer, upholding the constitutionality of Rhode Island's long-standing law restricting the carrying of concealed weapons to persons with a legitimate need. The Court strongly rejected arguments by the gun lobby that an "individual right to bear arms" provides a right to carry hidden, loaded weapons in public. Instead, the Court held that the restrictive concealed carry law "is reasonable legislative regulation of weapons that falls squarely within the state's police power."

• Click here to read the press release.
• Click here to read the court decision.