Issue in Depth: Gun Control
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 18 -- Feeling pressure from a succession of lawsuits against gun makers, the trade organization that represents them is collecting millions of dollars from its members for legal defense and this week announced plans to support candidates and to lobby at all levels of government to fight greater gun restrictions.
Until recently, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, representing companies that make all manner of outdoor products as well as firearms, had steered clear of political entanglements over gun laws and elections, leaving the fight to the National Rifle Association, an organization of gun owners that has long taken the lead on such matters.
At the foundation's 22nd annual trade show here, Robert T. Delfay, the foundation president, said on Monday that his group would join the rifle association in opposing forces that favor more laws and regulations as a way to curb violent crime.
"Historically, we have not been politically active as an industry," Mr. Delfay said in a state-of-the industry address on Monday night. "That must change and will change. This upcoming election will impact our industry, and we must have an impact on this election."
More than symbolic, Mr. Delfay's remarks reflected a major shift in strategy for the 39-year-old foundation, which represents more than 1,700 manufactures and distributors of things like camouflage outfits, telescopic sites and the most elaborate of handguns and rifles.
To this point, the foundation has concerned itself almost exclusively with issues focusing on how its members do business, like regulations governing sales, marketing and distribution. By comparison, the major thrust of the rifle association has always been the rights of gun ownership, most recently supporting the enforcement of existing gun laws rather than the passage of new ones.
While the two organizations have many interests in common, they diverge on some issues, with the manufacturers backing help to the federal government in tracking guns and exploring new technologies like so-called smart guns.
And now, recent lawsuits filed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and more than two dozen municipalities, the first major assault on gun makers, have forced the foundation to assert its own political agenda rather than to rely on the rifle group.
As part of an initiative, many members are contributing 1 percent of their gross sales to help the gun makers defend themselves in the lawsuits, which are trying to force the companies to make safer guns. The money has been coming in since the program was announced at last year's trade show, and in an interview, Mr. Delfay predicted that the donations could reach as much as $10 million a year.
The recent threat of a federal lawsuit by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to force the companies into an omnibus settlement with the N.A.A.C.P. and municipalities has spurred further action by the industry group.
For the first time, Mr. Delfay said, the foundation has formed a political action committee to influence elections in November. He said efforts were under way to gather the names of customers from member companies to establish an initial list of 500,000 people who would be encouraged to support gun-friendly candidates for Congress and president, including any Republican who opposed Vice President Al Gore or the former Senator Bill Bradley.
In delivering the keynote address on Monday, former Senator Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming, an avid gun enthusiast, encouraged industry officials to get involved in the political process. He was especially critical of the housing department lawsuit and said: "You can do something about HUD. Get yourself a new president, and you get yourself a new HUD."
He slipped in words of support for two candidates, saying that nothing would be heard about gun control from George Bush and Senator John McCain, "so remember that when you waddle off to the polls."
It was an easy sell to gun makers in the audience, for whom the gun wars have become a growing concern since New Orleans became the first city to sue in October 1998.
Since then, 27 more jurisdictions have sued the gun makers, but some have combined efforts, leaving 19 actual lawsuits.
Of the four that have come before judges, three -- in Cincinnati, Miami and Bridgeport, Conn. -- have been dismissed. In a fourth, by Atlanta, the product liability claim was dismissed but a negligence claim was allowed to proceed. The other suits are still pending.
"My advice is stay the course," Douglas Kliever, the foundation's general counsel, told members, whose resources are far less than those of tobacco companies, which faced similar legal action from states. "Above all, do not panic in the face of this litigation."
From the rifle association's perspective, the new efforts by the shooting group to exert political pressure can only enhance the power and influence of gun-rights proponents in months ahead.
"Any time an organization with the potential of the firearms industry can participate in elections, it is a great assist to everybody who believes in less gun control and more crime control," said James Jay Baker, the association's chief lobbyist.
He conceded that the two groups might disagree on some objectives, but he said the lawsuits "have certainly activated, invigorated and expanded the industry to look at the political and legislative landscape."
Besides threatening their business operations, gun makers here said the lawsuits have also made them a growing target of public disdain. Many blamed organizations like Handgun Control Inc., a nonprofit organization that fights for tighter gun-control laws, for orchestrating a campaign against them and distorting messages that stress gun safety and crime prevention.
"'We're a security company for cities, states and homes," said Ed Shultz, president of Smith & Wesson, one of the country's largest gun makers. "But we've been demonized."
As the lawsuits have been filed in recent months, individual gun makers have taken some steps like telling distributors not to sell guns at gun shows, as Sturm, Ruger & Company did this year, or abandoning the retail gun business, as the Colt Manufacturing Company has done.
Still, Mr. Shultz and executives at other gun companies said business had never been better. They said their opponents' efforts to pass new laws and file lawsuits had rallied their customers to buy more guns to show support.
"It's fair to say people are apprehensive about the future of our industry," said Jeffrey K. Reh, general counsel to Beretta U.S.A. "Having said that, many times in the past when the firearms industry has come under attack, we have not only survived but flourished."
Just how and when an agreement might arise between the litigants is unclear. Many company executives here said they did not even know what a settlement might include. Mr. Delfay and other foundation officials have already held informal meetings with officials from the housing department and cities that are suing to discuss a possible resolution.
In time, some companies might grow more anxious to settle than others -- at least that was the impression conveyed by Housing Secretary Andrew M. Cuomo, who has monitored the meetings.
"Keep in mind," Mr. Cuomo said in an interview from Iowa, "there is no one group. There is a spectrum. Some are more responsible than others. Some are more political than others. All we want is for them to design and distribute safer guns. Nobody wants to outlaw guns. That is not the question."