Dallas (November 30, 1999) — Responding to the lawsuit filed by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) against the U.S. Conference of Mayors and each of the cities who have filed suit against firearm manufacturers, National Center for Policy Analysis Senior Policy Analyst H. Sterling Burnett issued the following statement:
"This is not a surprising response to the frivolous and arguably dangerous suits already filed by these mayors against firearm manufacturers."
"Based on my analysis, this suit by the Second Amendment Foundation has a stronger basis in the law than those filed by the cities. The SAF suit alleges that cities are unlawfully interfering with interstate commerce. Some companies have already filed for bankruptcy protection in response to the cost of litigation. They clearly have had a profound effect on the interstate commerce of firearms."
"It is also clear, that since cities receive a net benefit from gun ownership, their suits are not about recouping the public cost of crime, but rather a backdoor attempt to take away citizens Second Amendment rights."
Earlier this year, Burnett authored a study for the NCPA entitled "Suing Gun Manufacturers: Hazardous to Our Health," which noted 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 with a net social benefit from gun use. Accordingly, Burnett calculates that guns save U.S. citizens between $1 billion and $38 billion annually.