Crime has its price… and the city of Chicago wants gunmakers to pay it.
Chicago and Philadelphia are among the first U.S. cities considering suing gunmakers for the cost of murder investigations. Lawsuits would be similar to recent tobacco lawsuits, in which states have sued cigarette makers to recover the costs of treating tobacco-related illnesses.
City officials say gunmakers should be held responsible for the cost of crimes caused by handguns – which can add up to thousands of dollars for each shooting.
But why blame gunmakers? Because they deliberately make weapons that appeal to criminals, Lawrence Rosenthal said. He’s the attorney leading Chicago’s lawsuit research. He cited examples of guns that are resistant to fingerprints or are so small that they’re easy to hide.
“They make weapons more dangerous than they have to be and then they brag about it,”Rosenthal said.
Some legal experts doubt the lawsuits will hold up in court. “It is remarkably, remarkably silly,”Northwestern University law professor Dan Polsby said.
But such suits are worth a shot, city officials say, if it causes gunmakers to think twice about promoting weapons that attract criminals.
