The NAACP had their lawsuit against the gun industry thrown out of court, but not before U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein ruled that gun retailers were responsible for the proliferation if illegal firearms. The AP reports on Weinstein's ruling:

The NAACP proved its members "did suffer relatively more harm from the nuisance created by the defendants through illegal availability of guns in New York," U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein wrote in a 175-page decision.

"It failed, however, to show that its harm was different in kind from that suffered by other persons in New York," Weinstein added. [...]

Manufacturers take too few measures, he wrote, "to eliminate or even appreciably reduce the public nuisance they individually and collectively have created." Among the "obvious steps," he said, would be requiring retailers to ban multiple sales to the same customers.

While I'm pleased with the outcome, I cannot help but think that this federal judge is deliberately laying the foundation for more frivolous lawsuits against the gun industry. His personal bias certainly shone through, when he basically ruled that gun manufacturers and retailers are directly responsible for gun violence, but that it doesn't just affect black people, it affects all of us.

Of course, the notion is akin to blaming car dealerships and manufacturers for the proliferation of auto accidents stemming from high speed police chases. After all, if they didn't manufacture and sell so many cars, there wouldn't be as many to steal. You cannot blame the thief, because he's the victim of an oppressive and unfair capitalist society. So, lets blame the capitalists. Even if we lose in court, perhaps we can still drive them out of business.

I also love his handy solution to illegal gun violence. We'll just run right out and edit the Constitution to read "keep and bear arm" instead of "arms". That should keep guns out of the hands of criminals. What a jackass.

Of course, New York already tough city and state-wide gun control. That hasn't seemed to stop the proliferation of crime under Bloomberg's watch. In fact, Guiliani's method of crime control proved to be the most effective way to reduce crime. Under Rudy, criminals and gang bangers were rounded up for lesser crimes like vandalism, as a form of nipping them in the bud. It sounds easy, but it was effective. Bloomberg on the other hand, has the police so busy trying to generate revenue by ticketing smokers and people who sit on milk crates, that real crime is starting to run rampant.

UPDATE: Kim DuToit adds this gem quote from Sen. Frank Lautenberg, the NJ gun control democrat who shoved Torricelli aside last year.

"A federal judge has found that corrupt gun dealers are a menace to a safe, peaceful society," Mr. Lautenberg said. "Unfortunately, a legal technicality prevented the court from ruling against these reckless gun dealers."

I would like to note that Lautenberg didn't let any legal "technicalities" stand in his way when he asked the New Jersey courts to break their state election laws during his 21 day Senate campaign.