On Wednesday, seven gun makers and the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) -- the organization that represents the firearms industry -- filed a lawsuit in federal court against HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer (D), Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D), and government officials from 14 municipalities. The suit stems from the defendants' stated intent to give preferential consideration when awarding contracts to purchase firearms for law enforcement to those companies that cave in (as did Smith & Wesson [S&W][see Special FAX Alert 3/20/00]) by agreeing to the egregious terms of the "code of conduct"established by these bureaucrats.
NSSF and
the seven gun makers --
"The lawsuit arises from a politically-motivated scheme in which these bureaucrats have sought to bully law enforcement professionals into buying handguns based not on the quality or safety of the product, but on capitulation by the manufacturer to a regulatory agenda concocted by these officials," said NSSF President Robert Delfay. During a press conference announcing the suit, Delfay also distributed letters from the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) and the Law Enforcement Alliance of America (LEAA) that reject the Clinton-Gore-Cuomo agenda. The FOP stated, "The top concern of any law enforcement agency handling purchasing firearms is officer safety, not adherence to a particular political philosophy." LEAA said, "Law enforcement officers should not be used as political pawns."
And in another setback to the attempt to use the lucrative law enforcement firearms contracts to bully gun makers into rolling over like S&W did, Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R) rejected an invitation from Eliot Spitzer to join in what the NSSF suit calls a conspiracy. In a letter to Spitzer, Gov. Huckabee stated he is "a strong proponent and defender of Americans'...right to keep and bear arms," and that he "will not ask [the director of the Arkansas State Police] to award a lucrative government contract in order to further a political agenda geared at controlling and ultimately destroying the firearms industry." Huckabee's rejection of Spitzer's strong-arm tactics came on the heels of another response to Spitzer from Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor, who pointed out that it was the duty of attorneys general to enforce competitive bid laws -- not flout them. For a copy of the NSSF suit, go to www.nssf.org. For Gov. Huckabee's letter, visit www.NRAILA.org.
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