Gun Manufacturers’ Immunity Targeted

Gun control advocate Sen. Don Perata introduced legislation Tuesday that would abolish the immunity from liability that firearms manufacturers enjoy under California law.

The Alameda Democrat’s proposal was triggered by a state Supreme Court ruling last week that held that gun makers cannot be held responsible for crimes in which their products are used.

The court cited a 1983 state law that prohibits suing gun companies on the grounds that the benefits of their products were outweighed by the dangers they posed.

Perata said the law gives the gun industry an exemption unique to manufacturers of durable goods. It was enacted, he said, to protect a group of Southern California manufacturers best known for producing cheap handguns known as Saturday night specials.

He said gun manufacturers should be subject to the same liability standards as makers of other products. When they foul up, Perata said, they should “get hammered like anybody else” with lawsuits. “This has been a pet peeve of mine for 10 years,” he said.

Perata, author of the state’s recently strengthened law against military-style assault weapons, added his proposal as an amendment to a bill pending in the Assembly.

He refused to discuss its prospects for passage in the Assembly, which has become a tougher test for gun control bills in recent years than the Senate.

Perata noted, however, that some conservative Democrats, including those from the rural San Joaquin Valley, may have a tough time voting for it as they prepare for next year’s elections.

Instead of presenting the bill as a gun control issue, Perata said, he will try to convince colleagues that it is an issue of safeguarding consumers.

“We have a long tradition of consumer rights protection in California,” he said.

The high court acted in a case brought by survivors of a bloody 1993 attack by a man armed with two assault weapons in an office tower in San Francisco.

The gunman, Gian Luigi Ferri, killed eight people in the building and wounded six others. He then killed himself.

The survivors argued that the gun manufacturer Navegar Inc. designed advertisements for its TEC-DC9 pistol to appeal to people who like violence. One ad indicated that the gun resisted fingerprints, and another advised retailers that the guns were as “tough as your toughest customer.”

“You don’t find that kind of advertising in Vanity Fair and the New Yorker,” Perata said.