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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday May 31, 2008 - 9 Flynn wants to hold handgun manufacturers accountable Oakville MPP's Private Member's Bill would allow victims or their families to sue manufacturers of handguns By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Do guns kill people or do people kill people? This is the question that will be kicked around Queen's Park for the next few weeks as the provincial government debates a Private Member's Bill, introduced by Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn, which would attempt to make firearm manufacturers and importers more responsible for the actions of their products. If passed, the Handgun Manufacturers' and Importers' Liability Act 2008 proposed by Flynn would allow the victims of handgun shootings, or their families, to bring legal action against the handgun's manufacturer or importer in cases where negligence could be proven on their part. While not blaming any particular firearm company for gun violence in the GTA, Flynn noted a code of conduct appears to be needed for this industry. "The proliferation of guns is something we need to deal with in a systematic way, and the one way that I think we've approached some of these types of problems in the past is to bring in the concept of product stewardship," said Flynn. "If you're producing a product and you're earning a profit from that product, you should be responsible for that product for its entire lifecycle. It seems to me that the gun industry can't help but know that, either inadvertently or not, they are supplying the criminal element in our country and in the United States with firearms." Flynn noted that the act would be applicable to any firearm manufacturer or importer who does business in Ontario, and that it would provide an alternate source of financial restitution to shooting victims. The provincial government was severely criticized in 2006 when the criminals, who shot and paralyzed Louise Russo, a mother of three and innocent bystander, were permitted to pay her $2 million cash in exchange for reduced jail sentences. "That had to be done because this lady had no right of recourse against anybody. She was going to live the rest of her life in a wheelchair and had nobody there to fund her," said Flynn. "What I'm saying is that this act would allow the Province of Ontario to recover the cost of the health care that has to be provided to that woman, and if she was able to prove negligence on the part of the "If you're producing a product and you're earning a profit from that product, you should be responsible for that product for its entire lifecycle. It seems to me that the gun industry can't help but know that, either inadvertently or not, they are supplying the criminal element in our country and in the United States with firearms." Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn (firearm) importer, the distributor or the manufacturer she would be able to make a claim." Oakville and District Rod and Gun Club member Jim Etherington does not see any logic in this proposed act. "If I crash my car and kill someone, does that make Chrysler liable," he asked. "They should punish the person responsible for the shooting right away. Incarcerate him or her with no parole, no plea-bargain and, if and when the person is found guilty, they get a good hefty minimum sentence with no time off for time served. That way, you're doing something to the person who commits the crime. That might make people think twice." Besides having a problem with who the liability act is aimed at, Etherington also believes the act would be completely ineffective in combating gun violence since the vast majority of handguns that are used in crimes in Ontario are stolen. Flynn feels this fact proves his point. "These guns are being stolen and replaced by the handgun manufacturers. As long as these guns are being stolen, there's a great market there for these handgun manufacturers to fill that void of stolen guns," said Flynn. "If I was a handgun manufacturer, for example, and I was selling 20,000 units a year to some place and the police kept finding that those guns were being used in crimes, I would think that I might not want to sell to that place anymore. Whether they were being broken into or whether they were selling the guns to people who were reselling them, something there is allowing handguns to fall into the wrong hands." The Handgun Manufacturers' and Importers' Liability Act 2008 will be debated at Queen's Park on June 12. THE CHOICE IS YOURS