Responsible Firearms Ownership 

Gunmaker not liable in killing spree

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Victims cannot sue gunmakers when criminals use their products illegally,
California's top court ruled Monday, rejecting a suit stemming from the 1993 massacre of eight people
in a skyscraper.

The 5-1 decision by the California Supreme Court kept in step with other courts in insulating weapons
manufacturers from liability.

Every state high court and federal appellate court in the nation to consider such lawsuits has ruled
that makers of legal, non-defective guns cannot be sued for their criminal misuse.

Monday's decision said the Legislature's rules regarding product liability do not allow for such suits
against gun manufacturers.

"In reaching this conclusion, we are not insensitive to the terrible tragedy that occurred on July 1,
1993," Justice Ming W. Chin wrote. "The Legislature has set California's public policy regarding gun
manufacturers liability under these circumstances. Given that public policy, plaintiffs may not
proceed with their negligence claim."

The decision was an important victory for weapons manufacturers and Navegar Inc., the maker of the
weapon used in the San Francisco skyscraper massacre. The justices overturned a lower court
decision that was the nation's only state appellate ruling allowing victims to sue a gun manufacturer
for someone's criminal acts.

Surviving victims of the rampage claimed that Navegar was liable for damages because it marketed
the TEC-DC9 to appeal to criminals, and that Navegar should have foreseen it would be used in a
massacre.

Their case, originally thrown out by a judge, was resurrected two years ago when California's 1st
District Court of Appeal ruled that the survivors were entitled to a trial on their claims.

The appellate court said Miami-based Navegar "had substantial reason to foresee that many of those
to whom it made the TEC-DC9 available would criminally misuse it to kill and injure others."

In a lone dissent Monday, Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar agreed with the appellate court decision,
arguing that the victims' case should proceed to trial on grounds that Navegar was negligent in
marketing the fast-firing weapon to the general public. She said Navegar should have restricted its
sale to firing ranges, police and military users.

She added that, had a conventional handgun been used in the firestorm, there may have been fewer
deaths. Werdegar also said her colleagues misconstrued California's product liability laws, which she
said allows such suits against gunmakers.

Until the law is amended, she said, "gunmakers ... will apparently enjoy absolute immunity from the
consequences of their negligent marketing decisions."

Monday's decision could insulate gunmakers in a suit by Los Angeles, San Francisco and 10 other
California cities and counties, claiming faulty design, manufacture and distribution of firearms. At
least 16 similar suits have been filed by local governments elsewhere.

The Navegar case dates to July 1993, when Gian Luigi Ferri, a mentally disturbed man with a grudge
against lawyers, entered the skyscraper and opened fire in a law office with two TEC-DC9s and a
revolver. He killed eight people and wounded six before killing himself.

"My son wouldn't be growing up without a father if it weren't for that," said Carol Kingsley, whose
husband, attorney Jack Berman, was killed when a hail of bullets punctured Berman's closed office
door. "These guns were designed for mass killing and they were marketing, targeting these types of
folks like Ferri."

Ernest Getto, a lawyer for Navegar, said there was no evidence of any connection between the
manufacturer's legal activities and Ferri's criminal conduct.

He urged the court to prevent "the imposition of potentially boundless liability on those engaged in
legal manufacturing, marketing and distribution activities when their products are criminally
misused."

Dennis Henigan, who argued the case on behalf of Ferri's victims, said Navegar should be sued.

"It was their decision to sell a combat weapon to the public and promote it to the high-risk users who
intend to kill," Henigan said. "We would have no qualms against them if they just marketed it as a
high-quality weapon."

Found in Ferri's suburban Los Angeles apartment were copies of Soldier of Fortune and similar
magazines, in which Navegar commonly advertised the TEC-DC9.

The TEC-DC9, a high-capacity pistol easily converted to fully automatic fire, was one of the guns
used by two students to kill 12 fellow students and a teacher in Littleton, Colo.