Smoking Guns

A big-city mayor trains his sights on weapon makers.

Max Schulz from the July 1998 issue

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Whether Rendell's lawsuit ever has its day in court, it has already won serious concessions. Manufacturers are terrified of what may happen if they are called to fight in court, so they are making efforts to assuage Rendell and stave off a suit.

The ASSC has been dancing a very delicate waltz with a mayor who at any moment could make its members' lives miserable. The group has been praising the virtues of cooperation with Rendell, the White House, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. Last October the industry announced it would "voluntarily" adopt child-safety locks on every handgun. Every major manufacturer but one (Colt, which is taking a different approach aimed at personalizing handguns) signed on.

"It is very definitely a response to a possible lawsuit," says Bob Ricker, director of government affairs for the ASSC. "We've watched the tobacco industry with how they have faced similar issues, and the alcohol industry with drunk driving. We don't want to get into a bunker mentality."

But if the ASSC thinks it can buy off Rendell, it will have to adopt many more "voluntary" reforms before the mayor shelves the lawsuit idea for good. While a spirit of amity and cooperation seemed to reign at the April convention, Rendell made it very clear to gun makers that their contrition has just begun.

He presented a list of demands: The industry must endorse legislation working its way through the Pennsylvania Assembly that would limit gun purchases to one per person per month; it must stop selling products which are allegedly attractive to criminals, such as cheap "Saturday Night special" handguns, armor piercing bullets, and so-called assault weapons; and it must stop making guns that can use magazine clips holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition. This final proposal would in effect end the manufacture of all weapons that accept magazines. Progress on these and other "voluntary" reforms must be shown by summer's end, Rendell warned, or the suit may proceed apace.

In which case Rendell will have to answer perhaps the most intriguing question of this whole drama: Whom to sue? His staff, generous and candid in discussing possible tactics, theories, hurdles, and other elements of the suit, is tight-lipped on this point. All gun manufacturers? Just the biggest ones? Retailers? Wholesalers? Makers of bullets? Rendell's aides adamantly refuse to say.

The mayor was far more forthcoming when I posed the question directly to him: "I would sue a lot of people," he boomed. Not just gun makers, he emphasized--anyone responsible for the carnage in his streets. Decrying how in movies these days even the good guys routinely use guns, Rendell stated, with utter seriousness, "I might sue the entertainment industry for glorifying gun violence." He continued, "I might sue the federal, state, and local governments for not providing economic opportunity. I might have to sue ourselves."

Despite their seeming silliness, such wide-ranging and overwrought proclamations have so far had a definite effect: They have prompted the ASSC to acquiesce to Rendell's demands. And yet, just minutes after a talk in which he promised to indict anyone and everyone who makes life miserable in his city, the mayor dropped a hint that his performance was just that--a performance.

As he was leaving the meeting, Rendell was confronted by Mo Stein, who retails guns and sporting goods in the Bronx. Stein told Rendell about how he had just been sued over a freak accident that didn't involve him and took place hundreds of miles away. It turns out that about four years ago, a sportsman was illegally hunting on a dairy farm in upstate New York. The hunter mistook an employee for a deer and fired, killing the man. Just before the statute of limitations ran out, the victim's family filed lawsuits against anyone and everyone possibly connected with the incident. They sued the hunter. They sued the dairy farm. And they sued Mo Stein, who allegedly sold the gun used in the accident. Stein has already paid $20,000 in legal costs to defend himself, and his ordeal is just beginning.

Before Stein could ask Rendell what he thought about that, the mayor emphatically volunteered, "I think there ought to be limits put on your liability." Then he sauntered off, leaving Mo Stein to scratch his head and wonder why Rendell is drawing up plans to sue him over shootings in the City of Brotherly Love.