The Indiana Court of Appeals handed an significant victory to the City of Gary on Monday. In fact, anyone in Indiana who has suffered from the unlawful distribution of guns to criminals and gun traffickers because of the practices of the gun industry has reason to cheer.

In a unanimous 3-0 decision [pdf document], the Indiana Court of Appeals decided that the City of Gary can sue gun manufacturers who allegedly funnel guns into the criminal market for creating a public nuisance under Indiana law. Put simply, when gun industry practices injure the public, it should be held accountable. That’s a common-sense idea, and the Court agreed.

It was a significant blow to the gun lobby, since the Indiana Court found that Gary’s lawsuit falls squarely within an exception to a Federal law called the “Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act� (PLCAA). The gun manufacturers argued that even bad business practices should be shielded from accountability by the PLCAA.

But because they failed to convince any of the three judges, the people of Gary, Indiana may soon have their day in court.

It is important to remember that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has shown [pdf document, at page 2] that just 1.2 % of licensed gun dealers account for about 57 % of all guns traced to crime. All of the gun dealers being sued [pdf document] in this case fall into that questionable 1.2% [pdf document].

Furthermore, the gun industry should know exactly who these shady dealers are. If they don’t, they only have to ask the ATF. Or, in the Gary case specifically, they could just watch the videotaped stings of gun dealers that were filmed by the City of Gary Police Department.

Once the gun manufacturers separate the corrupt dealers from the honest ones, they should stop retailing through corrupt dealers altogether. Otherwise, manufacturers know that a huge percentage of their products – dangerous weapons – will wind up in illegal hands. And if that happens, they should be held accountable.

Gun manufacturers shouldn’t wait to be sued to do the right thing. We should all challenge the industry to review its practices to help prevent dangerous people from getting dangerous weapons.

That will make things safer for all of us. And it’s just good business.

(Note to readers: This entry, along with past entries, has been co-posted on bradycampaign.org/blog and the Huffington Post.)