[Sir Taliesin]

Originally posted by Yorick: I don't know. It seems America is driven by a culture of litigation. I'm suprised no-one has tried this. Maybe they have and failed. I don't know... it would seem like they could have a case though. If a thief can sue the owner of a house who leaves a rake in their yard why not?

Actually, there have been several lawsuits against the firearms industry over the last several years. Most have been brought by cities. All, to my knowledge, have been thrown out. There are only two that I know of, that have been tried and won against the gun industry. I believe one is in New York (the guy that shot several people on a train) and the other is in Florida (the boy that shot and killed his teacher a couple of years ago). New York is on appeal and the reward was thrown out in the case in Florida because the Judge decided that it was excessive since the firearm in question was not proven to be defective.

Cases like these are hard to prove, because the plaintiff must prove the firearm was defective in some way. Just because someone murders someone else with a firearm doesn't mean that the firearm was defective.

However, I'm sure there are probably more than that. Those are just the ones I've heard of.