Dallas (Oct. 8, 1999) – Responding to Ohio Judge Robert Ruehlman's decision today to dismiss Cincinnati's liability lawsuit against gun manufactures, National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) Senior Policy Analyst H. Sterling Burnett issued the following statement:
"Judge Ruehlman is the first judge in these municipal lawsuits to show the good sense to exercise judicial restraint.
"Both judicial precedent and more than 200 years of common law support Ruehlman's contention that it is the sole legitimate province of the legislature, not the courts, to make laws concerning product safety and legitimate distribution channels.
"I applaud Judge Ruehlman on his good sense."
Burnett, authored a study for the NCPA earlier this year entitled "Suing Gun Manufacturers: Hazardous to Our Health," which echoed many of the same points made by Judge Ruehlman in his decision to dismiss the suit. The study also notes that citizens use guns in self-defense as many as 2.5 million times annually (in the vast majority of cases, merely showing the firearm prevents the crime). That far exceeds the number of crimes committed with firearms each year, providing cities like Cincinnati with a net social benefit from gun use. Accordingly, Burnett calculates that guns save U.S. citizens between $1 billion and $38 billion annually.