Gun Industry

WASHINGTON - In a sign of the changing political calculus of gun control, the Senate appears poised to pass a top priority of the National Rifle Association this week, legislation that would shield the gun industry from lawsuits arising from the misuse of their weapons. Gun manufacturers have pressed for years for such a law, arguing that it is needed to protect them from lawsuits filed by municipalities or individuals that the industry says could bankrupt it. Dozens of such lawsuits are pending.

Governor was right to veto state's Y2K legislationThe Sun's editorial condemning Gov.nor Parris N. Glendening's veto of the private sector Year 2000 computer problem (Y2K) legislation ignores both the law and logic ("Dangerous Y2K veto," May 22).The editorial argues that this veto leaves conscientious businesses with no protection from lawsuits. Current law, however, provides protection for any business that has acted reasonably to address its Y2K issues.The law always judges actions in the context of reasonableness.

Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke said yesterday he is exploring a lawsuit against America's firearms manufacturers, a move that would add Baltimore to a platoon of cities targeting gun-makers for the police, emergency and court costs resulting from gun violence.Yesterday, lawyers for the city of Chicago filed a $433 million lawsuit against gun companies, alleging they are intentionally saturating the city with more handguns than they can reasonably expect to sell to law-abiding citizens.Two weeks ago, New Orleans filed the nation's first lawsuit by a government against the industry, accusing gun manufacturers of failing to include adequate safety features.

Last year's rampage at Columbine High School, the nation's worst schoolhouse shooting spree, left America numb and hoping such senseless killings would end. They haven't. Recently, a 6-year-old Michigan boy took a handgun to school and killed a classmate; a 7-year-old Alabama boy fatally shot a 5-year-old neighbor with an air gun loaded with pellets or BB shot; a man shot and killed three victims near Pittsburgh in an apparent hate crime; a Memphis gunman reportedly killed four people at a fire scene; and recently in Baltimore County, a mentally disturbed man allegedly shot and killed four people.

Camp Chief Ouray, nestled in the snow-capped Colorado Rockies, is home to wild elk, an overflowing trout stream and an array of breathtaking vistas. But these days, something forbidding has moved in: fear about children mixing with guns.Chief Ouray is one of a growing number of summer camps around the country that have halted their riflery programs -- or enacted other anti-gun measures -- in response to the rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., and the outcry against youth violence that followed.

Domestic abuse takes toll, suggests further violence likelyThe Sun's editorial "Hate holds a gun to the nation" (July 7) neglected to mention one other indicator of Benjamin Smith's (the racist killer who went on a shooting spree in the Midwest) violent nature: His record of domestic or dating violence.He was the respondent in a court order of protection for a former girlfriend. The evidence against him must have been convincing because the judge granted his estranged girlfriend two years of protection in April 1998.

WASHINGTON - Taking up Congress' efforts to protect children from indecent material on the Internet, the Supreme Court announced yesterday that it would decide the constitutionality of a federal law that requires public libraries to use filtering software on computers used by the public. A trial court struck down the law earlier this year, ruling that the filters wrongly blocked thousands of Web pages containing speech Congress never intended to regulate, including sites on politics, religion, women's health issues and sports.

Beginning today, The Sun brings you a weekly report of key votes in Congress. Today's reflects highlights of last year 's voting. The issue Torture ban Senators on Oct. 5 voted, 90-9, to require the U.S. military to adhere to the United Nations Convention Against Torture prohibition on "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." A yes vote also required fealty to Army Field Manual prisoner rules. House members on Dec. 14 endorsed, 308-122, Senate language requiring the U.S. military to obey the United Nations Convention on Torture ban on "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment of prisoners.

FIREARMS manufacturers have readily used technology to increase killing power while failing to use it to add safety features to their weapons.That is the complaint of five U.S. cities suing gun makers. The worthwhile legal maneuver appears to be gaining momentum now that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and some members of Congress have joined the call to hold manufacturers legally responsible for the societal damage that firearms inflict.The lawsuits raise several important legal questions.

WEATHER: Flurries, highs in the upper 30s . Tonight is expected to be mostly clear, temperatures in the mid-20s. TRAFFIC: Check our traffic updates for this morning's issues. TOP NEWS NRA, gun-control groups begin work in Annapolis: As the General Assembly prepared to debate some of the nation's strictest gun laws, the National Rifle Association and a trade organization representing the gun industry started to work in Annapolis this week.