Sorrell doesn't like this at all. Of course, last year Sorrell didn't mind singling out the tobacco industry for an uncommonly negative benefit when he knew that would guarantee a cheap victory for his own lawsuit. Burlington Mayor Peter Clavelle, newly re-elected, is also strongly opposed to any legislation that would limit the litigation deals he might want to make. The partisans of this latest version of legal extortion against a politically incorrect industry have no intention of stopping with firearms. Kelly Brownell is licking his lips over suing McDonald's for selling burgers.
Caffeine is high on the hit list.
Sorrell is unlikely to sue the dairy industry, but he has pointedly refused to rule out a suit against firearms or anything else. It is time to call a halt to this whole contemptible business. If a defective gun blows up in a state trooper's hand, sure, the state should sue for damages. But the use of the predatory lawsuit to victimize a politically disfavored industry ought to offend every fair minded person. At the very least, the representatives of the people ought to pass judgment on the ethics and merits of such a suit before attorneys general and mayors succumb to the trial lawyers' big money temptations.