Gary v. Glock is a 24-year-old lawsuit that refuses to die. Attorneys for the Brady gun control operation filed the lawsuit on behalf of the City of Gary, Indiana in 1999. At that time, more than 40 cities filed similar lawsuits, which sought to hold gun makers and dealers liable for murders that were committed using firearms. Some of the manufacturers named as defendants included GLOCK, Smith & Wesson, Colt, Sturm Ruger & Co., Beretta USA Corp. and Hi-Point. Various gun dealers – both national and local – were named in the City of Gary’s lawsuit. Fortunately, many states and the federal government passed laws to protect the firearms industry from this type of lawfare. By 2006, almost all of these nuisance lawsuits were quashed – all except for Gary v. Glock. The pesky lawsuit flared up again last month, when Indiana Superior Court Judge John M. Sedia denied motions to quash subpoenas for records maintained by several large Indiana gun dealers. As a result, the suboenaed dealers must now turn over their FFL Acquisition & Disposition books to the court. Those books contain the names and addresses of hundreds of thousands of law-abiding gun purchasers. Cabela’s has already complied with the subpoena, disclosing more than 200,000 transactions that occurred at its Hammond, Indiana store. We’re told that Bass Pro Shops will soon be ordered to report the details of more than 200,000 transactions that occurred at its Portage, Indiana store. Other dealers will soon receive similar subpoenas... In his order last month, Judge Sedia wrote: “After reviewing the filings of the parties, hearing oral argument and being fully advised … Gary may move forward on its public nuisance claim based upon the unlawful sales of firearms that have, indeed, harmed Gary.” The potential publication of personal information of hundreds of thousands of law-abiding gun owners is eerily similar to an interactive map of pistol permit holders that Gannett’s Journal News of Westchester County, New York published in 2012. The response to the newspaper’s map of gun owners was immediate and loud. Outraged gun owners pushed for the publication of the addresses of the journalists responsible for the travesty. The danger, many claimed, was that the newspaper created a handy tool for burglars seeking to break into homes and steal firearms. The same concerns now apply to Indiana’s gun owners thanks to Judge Sedia’s order. Privately, some suspect state officials will likely turn over the data to federal officials like the ATF, which has been surreptitiously creating an illegal registry of gun owners since Joe Biden took office... (Actually, F Troop has been surreptitiously creating an illegal registry of gun owners, if only by digitizing surrendered records of dealers who've gone out of business since long before Doddering Joe took office.)
SOJOURNING POSTULATION - Random thoughts just passing through.
