Amid all the gun violence gripping the District, and other segments of the nation, D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5) has set his sights on gun manufacturers.
If passed, Parker’s legislation, titled the Establishment of Reasonable Controls for the Firearm Industry Act, will allow District residents and the D.C. Office of the Attorney General to sue firearm industry members for harm caused by production or sale of guns that cause harm in the District.
It would also pave the way for lawsuits in situations where firearm manufacturers have failed to prevent gun trafficking and the illegal sale of firearms.
As of Tuesday, the Metropolitan Police Department has reported 60 homicides this year, 30 percent higher than what had been reported at this time last year.
Parker introduced this bill on the same day that District police officers responded to a mass shooting at Stewart’s Funeral Home on Benning Road in Northeast. That incident, the third of its kind in D.C. this year, claimed one life and caused three injuries.
Earlier this week, a mass shooting in Louisville, Kentucky, claimed five lives, including friends of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) and U.S. Sen. Rick Scott (D-Florida).
Meanwhile, much of the nation has pivoted its attention to Tennessee, where the GOP-controlled state legislature recently ousted Democratic State Representatives Justin Pearson and Justin Jones from their seats after they, along with Rep. Gloria Johnson (R) and several grassroots organizers protested in the state capitol after a mass shooting in Nashville.
Jones has since been reinstated and Pearson is expected to be later this week. Even so, the incident, for some, hints at the GOP’s zeal for marginalizing Black voices. It has also, to some extent, shown the power of a gun lobby that’s been able to leverage the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.
D.C. Council member Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2), chair of the D.C. Council Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, signed on as a co-introducer of Parker’s bill, along with Council members Robert White (D-At large), Christina Henderson (I-At large), Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1), Matthew Frumin (D-Ward 3), Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4), Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) and Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7).
Parker has also garnered the support of the D.C. chapter of Moms Demand Action, a grassroots organization fighting for public safety measures that protect people from gun violence. In a statement, he said that tackling gun violence requires taking the gun lobby to task for its part in rampant gun violence.
“By empowering the Office of the Attorney General and private citizens to sue gun industry members for harms caused by a failure to implement these reasonable controls, we can take a meaningful step towards measured accountability for the ongoing trauma gun violence inflicts on District residents,” Parker said.