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City of Chicago v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp.11/18/2004
igned to be carried as concealed weapons, even though state law prohibits the carrying of concealed weapons; and that dealers make multiple sales to individuals whom they know or should know intend to resell the guns in the city. The second amended complaint identifies the dealer defendants as part of a "core group of irresponsible dealers" who attract the business of gunrunners and other criminals, as reflected by ATF trace data. The complaint also includes factual assertions regarding numerous undercover "sting" operations carried out by police officers at the various dealer defendants' stores. Plaintiffs further assert that the dealers' practices "have caused a large underground market for illegal firearms to flourish in the City of Chicago," and that they "know that many of the firearms they sell are used or possessed illegally, and put into the underground market." Finally, the complaint states that the dealers' "actions and omissions in selling firearms to Chicago residents that are illegal in the City of Chicago unreasonably facilitate violations of City ordinances, and contribute to physical harm, fear and inconvenience to Chicago residents, and are injurious to the public health and safety of Chicago residents."
With regard to the defendant manufacturers and distributors, the second amended complaint alleges that they produce and distribute firearms that are regularly recovered by the Chicago police department. For each of the manufacturer defendants, the complaint lists the total number of firearms recovered by the police department from 1992 until the date of the filing of the complaint.
The tracing data offered by plaintiffs also contain a "time to crime" measurement, which reflects the number of days between the initial sale of a traced gun and its use in a crime. According to the complaint, the median "time to crime" for guns traced to distributor defendants is 834 days, while the median "time to crime" for guns traced to non-defendant distributors is 1,386 days.
In addition, the second amended complaint alleges that the defendant manufacturers and distributors knowingly oversupply or "saturate the market" with their products in areas where gun-control laws are less restrictive, knowing that persons will illegally bring them into jurisdictions where they are illegal and then possess or illegally resell them. Further, the complaint alleges that these defendants do not discourage the dealer defendants from selling their firearms irresponsibly, even though they are on notice as a result of the ATF traces that certain dealers are "responsible for a vastly disproportionate number" of the traced weapons. The defendant manufacturers and distributors "know that there is an absence of meaningful regulations of dealers" and know that "almost anyone can become a federally licensed firearms dealer." Despite this knowledge, these defendants "fail to supervise, regulate or set standards for dealers' conduct, instead relying on the mere fact that the dealers are licensed by the federal government."
Finally, plaintiffs allege that the manufacturer defendants design and market their products to appeal to those who intend to use them for criminal purposes. Specifically, features such as ease of concealment, resistance to fingerprints, and the ability to fire many rounds from a single ammunition clip make certain firearms particularly attractive to criminals. These types of weapons, according to the complaint, "serve no legitimate sport or hunting purpose and are designed to appeal to criminals who wish to be better armed than other criminals or law enforcement officers." The complaint identifies individual models manufactured by each of the manufacturer defendants as evidence
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