Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act Found Unconstitutional

No real surprise here. It was bound to have a challenge sooner or later. Now it's just a matter of seeing where it goes in higher court.

The city's lawsuit against gun makers and local dealers received a boost this week when a Lake County judge ruled a year-old federal law shielding gun makers from lawsuits is unconstitutional.

In a strongly worded opinion, Lake Superior Court Judge Robert A. Pete denied gun makers' request to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Gary seven years ago that alleges gun makers do little to control the flow of handguns used in crimes.

The federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, passed last year with backing from the gun industry in response to a wave of lawsuits similar to Gary's case, would deprive the city of its rights of due process, Pete said.

"Our Supreme Court has long recognized laws that are applied retroactively and ... serve as a deprivation of our existing rights are particularly unsuited to a democracy such as ours," Pete wrote.

Though gun makers are almost certain to appeal, city attorney Tony Walker said Pete's ruling should allow the city to begin requesting internal documents and records from the 16 gun makers named in the suit.

"We are moving into an aggressive litigation standpoint," said Walker, who is working on the case with help from the Washington, D.C.-based Brady Center.

"We want to start deposing (gun company) executives and getting to the heart of how guns get onto the streets of Gary."

Right. Denying one parties rights under the constitution for another's is widely recognized. Of course, the Bradey gun grabbers are pouring all the resources they can into this. Got to make sure to punish the gun manufacturers as much as possible in the courts before the legal issues are resolved.

So how much time will this take before resolution. Years?