Where was the moment of silence for 14-year-old Anthony Oliver - and other young victims of illegal handguns
- as key senators yesterday turned to do the bidding of the National Rifle Association?
The Philadelphia teen was slain last summer with a cheap Saturday-night special. Another youth had armed
himself easily for just $50 - buying one of the hundreds of illicit guns that flood the city's streets.
But the focus of Majority Leader Bill Frist (R., Tenn.) and other Senate leaders wasn't on gun victims yesterday.
Instead, they made yet another outrageous attempt to shield gun-makers and dealers from negligence lawsuits.
What's needed are real steps that keep illegal guns off the streets. Too many manufacturers are lax in policing
the networks that market guns to dealers. Too many dealers sell to buyers they should suspect are reselling guns illegally.
The answer isn't the gun-immunity measure authored by Sen. Larry E. Craig (R., Idaho), and co-sponsored
by both Pennsylvania Republicans, Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum. It would effectively scuttle most legal efforts to force
industry reform.
Not only would this hardy perennial on the NRA wish-list bar citizens from pursuing any future claims against
manufacturers and sellers over the careless distribution of weapons. It would quash existing lawsuits, too. (One such legal
claim was filed in Philadelphia last week on behalf of Anthony Oliver.)
Why would gun-makers deserve legal immunity and not the manufacturers, say, of lawn mowers? Answer: the
NRA's political clout. The irony is that the Senate postponed work on a defense bill to consider gun legislation that will
assure America's streets remain unsafe.
