By Traci O. Peterson Gun violence continues to increase at astronomical rates. The violence is illustrated every night on local as well as national news stations. Gun violence costs society billions of dollars each year. As a result, America has been looking for someone to hold responsible for the problems and costs related to guns.
Gun manufacturers are the latest target in the battle against gun violence.
In the past, plaintiffs have tried to hold them accountable under several different unsuccessful tort theories. Courts, however, have held that guns are not a defective product because they work exactly as they are intended. Moreover, gun making is not an ultrahazardous activity and it would not be suitable for strict liability. The public's new attitude was evident when a New York jury recently found gun manufacturers liable as an industry for the first time in Hamilton v. Accu-Tek. The jury decided that the negligent marketing techniques of the gun manufacturers led to the growth of an illegal underground market for guns which was the cause of the plaintiff's injuries.