The state of Indiana wants the Indiana Court of Appeals to dismiss the city of Gary’s 26-year-old lawsuit against the gun industry, citing a new law passed last year.
Attorney General Todd Rokita said Monday he filed a brief seeking the dismissal with the appellate court.
“In effect, the city is trying to use the courts rather than the legislature to enact gun policies and regulate law-abiding citizens’ access to weapons and ammunition,” he said in a release.
Gary’s lawsuit, filed during a period when gun violence was escalating, alleged the gun industry should be held as a public nuisance for supplying guns they know will reach criminals and others who can’t legally buy them.
The state has made several past attempts to kill the lawsuit. Last year, it passed a new law with a date made retroactive to three days before Gary filed its 1999 lawsuit.
The measure removes the rights of municipalities to sue the gun industry, allowing only the state to file lawsuits.
In rejecting the firearms manufacturers and sellers’ motion to dismiss the lawsuit after the new law passed, Lake Superior Court Judge John Sedia called the new law unconstitutional and violated vested rights. He labeled the law as retroactive and said it singled out Gary.
Rokita, a Republican and Munster native, said Gary’s lawsuit “amounted to a swipe at Hoosiers’ Second Amendment rights.”
The brief argued Sedia erred in refusing to apply the new state law to the case and that the city has no vested rights against the state in its power to file lawsuits.
The new law barring municipalities from suing gun manufacturers also doesn’t violate the state constitution regarding special legislation, the brief stated:
“It is a valid exercise of the State’s policymaking authority to address the impact of municipal litigation on the firearm industry, state policies, and law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights.”
Gary officials couldn’t be reached for comment.
Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.