The NRA's enormous political clout
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Actor Charlton Heston made his final appearance as NRA president this week after serving six terms.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The National Rifle Association just lost its high profile president -- actor Charlton Heston -- but the gun rights' group shows no sign of losing its enormous political clout on Capitol Hill.
Heston boosted the gun rights group's profile when he took the reins in 1998. But as he stepped down this week and handed the job over to Kayne Robinson, former Iowa Republican Party chairman, there is no indication the transition will diminish the NRA's influence.
Gov. Jeb Bush, R-Florida, left no doubt about that when he spoke to the group at their annual meeting in Orlando this weekend. "Were it not for your active involvement, it is safe to say that my brother would not have been elected president of the United States," he said.
Another sign that the gun rights' movement is on a roll was the lopsided vote (285-140) earlier this month in the House of Representatives on a bill giving legal immunity to gun dealers and manufacturers in civil lawsuits. The Senate is expected to take up the measure soon and the Senate's version currently has 52 sponsors.
The practice of suing gun sellers has become the latest legal recourse for cities and states seeking to recoup the cost of gun violence, as well as for individuals and family members of victims of gun violence.
Recently family members of victims of the Washington, DC, -area snipers filed a lawsuit against the sellers of the Bushmaster rifle. Law enforcement officials say a Bushmaster .223 caliber rifle was used in the shootings, a weapon the suspects allegedly obtained illegally from a Tacoma, Washington, store.
But Wayne LaPierre, executive director and CEO of the NRA argued on CNN's "Live From Washington" Monday that these lawsuits are an abuse of the legal system and a federal law outlawing them is needed.
"We're not talking about a manufacturer making a defective product or breaching a contract or warranty. They ought to be sued if they do that. But if we start allowing manufacturers of any products, firearms, cars, pharmaceuticals, you name it, to be sued if a third-party criminal misuses the product, we'll never have another product manufactured in United States again," LaPierre said.
David Lemongello, a former police detective, took issue with LaPierre's characterization that the lawsuits were abusive. He said they hold gun dealers accountable. Lemongello was shot in 2001 while on duty in New Jersey by a man who obtained a gun illegally through a "straw purchaser" or intermediary in West Virginia. He supports the right to bear arms, but is suing the gun dealership.
LaPierre says current regulations and better law enforcement -- not more litigation -- is the answer. "A dealer anywhere in the United States cannot deliver a firearm to any individual without the federal government giving the a-OK stamp of approval on the sale through the national instant check system," he said. "Now, if someone is illegally buying a firearm on behalf of some other person, that's a crime and they ought to be prosecuted and put in jail."
Lemongello said focusing on a criminal act committed with an illegal gun misses the point. "They need to do something before the crime is committed," he said.
Judy Woodruff is CNN's prime anchor and senior correspondent. She also anchors "Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics," weekdays at 3:30 pm ET.
