NAACP to Sue Handgun Industry for Lax Controls

The NAACP will sue handgun manufacturers, distributors and importers, seeking restrictions on the marketing and sale of firearms in hopes of keeping guns from criminals, sources said Sunday.

Sources within the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a formal announcement of the suit will come today from NAACP President Kweisi Mfume at the group’s 90th annual convention. The move would put the nation’s largest civil rights group in league with cities like New Orleans, Chicago, Cleveland and Boston, which have sued the firearms industry in hopes of curbing street and school violence.

Mfume declined to comment on the planned lawsuit, first reported in Time magazine this week. Sources at the convention said no monetary damages will be sought. The lawsuit will instead seek court orders that will force gun makers to better monitor where guns are distributed and to limit multiple purchases by individuals.

Earlier this year, a federal jury in New York returned a $4-million verdict based upon a new strategy by plaintiffs--that the industry’s negligence in marketing and distribution allowed weapons to flow illegally to states with strict anti-gun laws.