1. VICTORY! Indiana Court Rules Gun Industry "Immunity" Law Unconstitutional
2. FIGHTING BACK! Brady Center Report Debunks Claim that Feds Are Unfair to Gun Dealers

In a landmark ruling with nationwide implications, on October 23, an Indiana Superior Court Judge declared unconstitutional the 2005 Federal law backed by the gun lobby that sought to limit the legal liability of gun dealers and manufacturers.

The ruling held that the so-called "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act" violates the guarantees of Due Process and Separation of Powers afforded by the U.S. Constitution. Specifically, it allows Gary, Indiana's lawsuit against sixteen gun manufacturers and six northern Indiana gun dealers to proceed toward trial.

Cases pending in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., and other states have raised similar challenges to the constitutionality of the law, but this is the first court to find it unconstitutional.

• Read the full press release.
• Click here to read the court's ruling.

As part of its Gun Industry Watch series, the Brady Center has put together a study that thoroughly dismantles the gun industry claim that federal law enforcement authorities penalize gun dealers for mere "trivial violations" of gun laws unrelated to public safety. Instead, the study found that federal action against gun dealers typically occurs only after numerous, consistent, and serious violations of the law.

The study, entitled "Trivial Violations"?: The Myth of Overzealous Federal Enforcement Actions Against Licensed Gun Dealers, was issued in the wake of House Judiciary Committee action approving H.R. 5092, a bill supported by the National Rifle Association, that would make it more difficult for federal authorities to revoke the licenses of gun dealers who violate the law. The bill has since passed the U.S. House and is awaiting action in the Senate.

During debate on the bill, the Committee relied in part on testimony from attorney Richard Gardiner, a former Assistant General Counsel for the NRA who also represents gun dealers accused of violating the law, saying that the ATF focuses on "trivial, immaterial violations unrelated to public safety" in its actions.

This new report examined every published Federal court decision over the last five years — 21 in all — in which gun dealers challenged ATF's license termination actions. Instead of "trivial violations," the cases are replete with frequent and serious illegal conduct by dealers, including:

• Selling guns to straw buyers, and even advising criminals to bring straw buyers into the store to fill out the paperwork;
• Selling an assault pistol with its serial number obliterated;
• Selling guns to juveniles;
• Having no record of sale for hundreds or thousands of firearms that were acquired by the dealer but were no longer in store inventory; and
• Failing to conduct Brady background checks on gun buyers.

H.R. 5092 would cripple ATF's ability to crack down on the nation's worst gun dealers and add to the supply of illegal guns available to criminals.

"Trivial Violations"? was issued by the Brady Center's new program Gun Industry Watch, a systematic effort to monitor the gun industry and expose industry practices that endanger innocent lives. The reports are available at www.bradycenter.org/gunindustrywatch.

• Download the report "Trivial Violations".
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