Bloomberg scores hit in gun war

So, should Georgia gun dealers be the targets of sting operations and lawsuits by New York City? Lawyers working for the Big Apple’s mayor (and possible independent presidential wannabe), Michael Bloomberg, have sued 27 gun shops in other states — primarily Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia. For the full background, see the article I wrote last month.

The gun dealers are fighting back on two fronts:



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  • Challenging whether New York has “jurisdiction” to pursue civil lawsuits against legitimate businesses in other states.


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  • And filing their own countersuits charging, among other things, that Bloomberg and his aides have committed libel and slander. One Smyrna store, Adventure Outdoors, is seeking $400 million in damages from New York.





Bloomberg won one round this week. A federal judge in Brooklyn, Jack Weinstein, ruled that “there are a significant number of traces linked to criminal investigations in New York that are attributable to the defendants’ conduct; and that defendants’ distribution practices have a substantial effect on crime in New York.” In English, what the judge was saying was that the original sale of guns used in crimes could be traced to gun dealers. The judge stated that it could be inferred that the original sales were illegal.