Smith ‘gravely disappointed’ in passage of bill to void Gary gun lawsuit

Today, Feb. 27, House Bill 1235 passed out of the Senate and is heading to the governor's desk. This bill bars municipalities from pursuing legal action against firearm manufacturers independent of the state. This bill was crafted because of an ongoing 24-year lawsuit Gary v. Smith & Wesson Corp. In 1999, the city of Gary sued 9 manufacturers including Glock, Smith & Wesson and Colt. The lawsuit seeks justice for the community of Gary and would hold gun manufacturers liable for their reckless business practices that threaten public safety by contributing to the criminal gun market.  If signed into law, the legislation would void the lawsuit Gary v. Smith & Wesson Corp. 

State Rep. Vernon G. Smith (D-Gary) released the following statement upon the passage of HB 1235: 

“I am gravely disappointed by the passage of House Bill 1235. This bill prevents a decades old lawsuit from moving forward that would hold firearm manufacturers liable for negligent marketing and deceptive advertising in the city of Gary. I don’t think there should be any entity, any industry, anything period where we don’t hold people accountable for wrongdoing. Now, in the state of Indiana, we have decided that the gun industry cannot be held accountable for knowingly harming citizens.

“Gary has been successful at proving the validity of this case so far by winning not one, but three appeals in an attempt by the defendants to delay this litigation. Even the Indiana Supreme Court has even ruled that this case should be allowed to move forward. The legislature has no place interfering in specific cases such as this. Now, gun manufacturers are faced with the reality that they will not get this case thrown out. In their panic, they have chosen to take a backdoor approach backed by the Republican party to avoid accountability. 

“What the gun industry did to Gary was a deceptive, intentional, money grabbing effort without regard for the lives that were destroyed. To pass legislation explicitly prohibiting local units of government from pursuing justice against bad actors is illogical and unjust.”